Generations to Come
by Red Lioness
Summary: After the fall of Mumm-Ra, the ThunderCats begin to rebuild thier civilization, being tested and challenged at every turn.
1. Curse of the Golden Tiger

**Part I: **

**_Curse of the Golden Tiger_**

Mizo of the leopard clan leaned against a building in an alleyway in the capitol city of New Thundera. Mizo was a thug. It wasn't a glamorous life, but it paid the bills. He counted the night's takings. Almost three hundred dollars; not bad. He probably could have taken out one more person, but that last one he had taken his time with. That girl had been sweet, sweet, sweet! He'd always had a thing for jaguars. Too bad he'd had to smack her head against the ground as hard as he did. It wasn't his fault; she wouldn't stop screaming. Oh well, one less paternity suit he had to worry about. A movement in the darkness caught his eye. Mizo eased out from under the patch of moonlight into the shadows. A hot young tigress was strolling casually down the alley. Ouch! She was even sweeter than the jaguar girl had been. Mizo flicked out his knife and got ready to pounce. This must be his lucky night.

The next morning, Lion-O, Lord of the ThunderCats, Tygra and Lynx-O sat down at the Council Table with a delegation from the city council. The delegation consisted of a lioness, a male puma, an older male lion and an aging tiger. The tiger rose. He was aging, the rich chestnut of his body color faded to a dusty due, with gray ticking the ends of his black stripes. In his prime, he was probably a massive man, but age had started to shrink him.  
"My Lords, I am Bhima of the Tripura colony. I have been elected to serve as spokesperson." The ThunderCats nodded, then Lion-O spoke.  
"I understand you're having some problems with the crime rate," he began. "Let me assure you that as soon as we can get around to training some new ThunderCats, we will bring these unfortunate incidents to a halt. Right now we simply don't have the manpower." Bhima sighed.  
"My Lord, normally I would understand. We are all struggling to rebuild and some people will take advantage of that." The puma handed him a manila folder. "We were having some luck letting the criminals take each other out, but I think we should draw the line when they start eating each other." Lion-O blinked.  
"I beg your pardon?" The city council leader slid the folder across the table.  
"We found the latest one this morning. A small-time thug named Mizo who recently made the leap from mugger to murderer. I hope you've got a strong stomach, my Lord," he cautioned. Lion-O opened the folder and managed to stifle a gasp. The body pictured was barely recognizable as Thunderan. The flesh had been stripped clean from neck to groin. The man had been disemboweled, his innards strewn across the filthy alley where he was killed. Half of his face appeared to have been chewed off, the jaw cracked open unnaturally wide in a silent scream. The limbs had likewise been chewed on. The right arm was missing completely. Lion-O swallowed with effort and passed the picture to Tygra.  
"As I said, my Lord," Bhima continued. "Notice the corpse has been chewed on. We want you to find the person responsible and bring him to justice!" A noise of disgust escaped Tygra's lips.  
"Surely you don't think another Thunderan could have done this?" The architect asked. "This looks like the attack of some kind of animal."  
"The victims have all been fairly violent criminals," The older male lion interjected. "Most of them were armed when they were attacked. Animals go after the sick and the weak, not the strong."  
"Besides, someone would have noticed a giant man-eating beast. Some of the murders were committed in very crowded areas," The lioness added.  
"How many victims have there been?" Lynx-O asked.  
"Five, so far," Bhima answered. "People are very frightened, my Lords. A few incidents have nearly escalated in rioting. Some tiger-lion hybrids have left the city for fear of being lynched.  
"Why should ligers feel threatened?" Lion-O asked.  
"Ligers grow to be giants, my Lord," The puma answered. "The people are saying only someone as large and as powerful as a liger could do such horrible things." The lioness sighed.  
"This did grow out of fears of . . . . monsters," she said quietly.  
"Ti-Jeane!" The male lion snapped.  
"It's true, Baghra!" Ti-Jeane snapped back. "This didn't start until people starting hunting were-cats!"  
"What?!" Lion-O bellowed. "Were-cats?!" The rest of the Council gave Ti-Jeane dirty looks. She glared back at them and continued on her own.  
"A few months ago, people started hearing strange things at night; roars, howls, things like that. People found their livestock killed and eaten. Some tracks were found."  
"What kind of tracks?" Tygra asked.  
"In old times, they were called 'pug marks'. They're four-toed tracks with prominent claw marks. Some people actually saw the distant figures of big cats. People started to panic. In addition to the near riots, people have been rounded up and given on-the-spot 'were-cat tests'."  
"Were-cat tests?" Lynx-O echoed.  
"Yes; so far it's been touching silver. Needless to say, no one has been caught by this method. Although," Ti-Jeane looked distressed. "In one instance, a crowd of people were rounded up in a private courtyard and made to touch silver. After everyone had passed, they found a lock on a back door had been torn off; as if someone had escaped. No one took a head count, so nobody knows if someone or something actually escaped. I don't know what to think, but I don't think we can ignore the possibility that there might be something out there." The rest of the Council glared at her.  
"Are you quite finished?" Baghra asked. Ti-Jeane glared at him coldly. Lion-O sighed.  
"Whatever this thing is, we need to deal with it!"  
"My Lords, we demand action!" Bhima cried.

Bengali yawned as he rode shotgun in the Thundertank with Panthro.  
"I can't believe we're stuck outside at three in the morning looking for a monster," the white tiger announced. Panthro gave him a sideways look.  
"So we should just let him eat people?"  
"Well, maybe until he thins out the criminal element a little more," Bengali thought about the crime scene photos they had received. "Whatever is doing this can't be Thunderan. It's got to be some kind of animal or something."  
"I think someone would have noticed a giant man-eating beast wandering the streets," Panthro said dryly. Bengali yawned again. "Stop that!" Panthro ordered, yawning himself. Just then the tank's communicator blipped for attention. Bengali picked it up.  
"ThunderCat Radio; you're on the air."  
"Bengali, grow up," Pumyra's voice suggested. "Everything's clear on the south side. I'm heading in."  
"We read you, Pumyra. We're going to check in with everyone then we're calling it a night ourselves," Panthro announced.  
"I'll see you guys at the Lair." There was a crackle of static and the connection was cut.  
"Check in with Cheetara and Tygra," Panthro instructed as Bengali fiddled with the communicator.  
"I know, I know. Cheetara, are you still alive?" The answering snort came almost immediately.  
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Bengali. Everything's fine up here. I'm heading in."  
"I hear that," Bengali answered, then reached forward to fiddle with the buttons once more.

The communicator at Tygra's hip beeped. It was the only sound in the still night air. The city's west side was more of a suburb than actual urban area. The ThunderCat architect held the device to his ear.  
"Yes?"  
"Tygra, found any slavering beasts yet?" Bengali inquired. Tygra chuckled to himself.  
"It's quiet as churches down here, Bengali. No were-beasts around." There was a moment of silence on the other end.  
"No what?"  
"Come one, Bengali, didn't anyone ever tell you any were-tiger stories when you were a kid?"  
"Were-tigers?"  
"You know, regular Thunderans by day, horrible man-eating creatures by night? Their transformations linked to the moons? Allergic to silver? Any of this ringing a bell?"  
"Yeah, there are were-tigers and were-jaguars and were-panthers. I've never heard of any other kind," Panthro interjected.  
"Anyway, the point of this call is that we're heading in," Bengali announced.  
"Sounds good to me," Tygra said. "I'll see you guys at home." He shut the communicator off and slipped it back in its place. Hitting the sack sounded great about now.  
"EEEeeeK! Help!" Tygra whirled at the cry, running towards it without thinking. A young Thunderan woman stumbled out of the front door of her house. "There's something in my backyard!" She screamed. Tygra pounded through the house and into the walled backyard. Nothing. In one graceful leap, he stood on top of the high walls and perused the shadows. Still nothing.  
"Do you see anything?" The young lady called. Tygra jumped down and approached her. She was standing in the doorway, the light coming from behind her. It wasn't until he was very close that he got a good look at her. Whoa. She was _gorgeous_. She was a tigress, but her color . . . he'd never seen such a color. Her main color was a light honey blonde and her stripes were strawberry red. The blonde lightened to white on her face and hands. Her eyes were a dark, smoky blue. She was clutching a thin purple robe around her, but a decent amount of cleavage was spilling out the front. Tygra idly wondered if she was wearing anything under it.  
"Did you see anything?" She repeated.  
"What? Oh, no, I didn't see anything." She pulled the robe tighter around herself and chewed her lower lip. A tiny wrinkle formed between her eyebrows. That worried little wrinkle upset Tygra. He had a powerful urge to make that wrinkle go away.  
"I could check the house if you like," he offered eagerly. The relieved smile she gave him would have been the downfall of saints. Male ones, anyway.  
"Thank you, Lord . . .?"  
"Tygra! Please, call me Tygra."  
"My name is Siberia." The smile turned coy. The robe loosened ever so slightly, giving him another peek at her ample cleavage. Whoa! This hot, hot little golden tigress was coming on to him!  
"Well, I'll. . .I'll just . . .I'll check the house now," Tygra stammered, sliding around her.

Inside, the house was hardly even furnished. Given the multitude of boxes lying around the house, she was just moving in. There was nary a hiding place in the whole house. Nevertheless, he had promised to make sure she was safe. He started on the first floor and made his way up to the second, Siberia trailing behind him. He finished up in the bedroom. Siberia stayed in the doorway, effectively blocking it. Her bed consisted of a couple of mattresses stacked on top of each other. More boxes brimming with clothes lined the walls. Despite the total lack of furniture, everything was very neat. The bed was neatly made and the bedding smelled strongly of strawberries. Mmm, strawberries; just like Siberia's strawberry-red stripes. Before he could start drooling, Tygra turned back to the young tigress.  
"Ah, there's no one here," he announced. "You must have heard a raccoon or something." Siberia looked embarrassed.  
"I feel very foolish calling for help when it was nothing," she admitted.  
"Oh, don't feel like that; it was my pleasure," Tygra said quickly.  
"Really?" Siberia's smoky eyes darkened into a 'come hither' look. "Maybe it could be pleasurable for both of us," she purred. She moved out of the doorway and ran her hands over his broad chest. Okay, enough was enough. This was all very flattering, but he wasn't about to fall into bed with some woman he had just met, not even a golden tigress with delectable stripes. He was going to politely decline and walk out of the door. Right now. Yes. That's what he was going to do. Right this minute. Siberia snaked her arms around his neck and gave him a deep, wet kiss. Okay, any minute **now.** He was going to leave. He meant it. Really. But her kiss was so very sweet. She seemed like a skilled seductress, but her kiss was uncertain, passionate, and a tad desperate. It felt like she had been alone for a very long time. Tygra knew about being alone. He managed to pull away from her kiss. That worried, uncertain look was back, along with that wrinkle between her eyebrows. Damn that little wrinkle!  
"No, don't," he whispered. "It's okay."  
"I don't want to be alone," she blurted.  
"Me neither," Tygra admitted. Siberia gave him a relieved smile, then pushed away from him. She untied the belt from her robe and let the silky garment slip to the floor. Tygra had been right to wonder if she was naked underneath. She stood there in all her golden glory as if waiting for his approval. After a moment of staring at her in awe, he began to remove his uniform. They both stood there as naked as the day they were born then he took her in his arms and led her to the bed.

Later that night (or that morning, depending on how you looked at it) Tygra stretched across the strawberry-scented sheets.  
"Oh, that was amazing," he groaned. Siberia curled against him, pillowing her head on his chest.  
"It sure was," she agreed. "Did you take lessons or something?" Tygra grinned and chuckled at the compliment.  
"I read a lot of books," he admitted. Siberia laughed out loud. She had such a beautiful voice; like silver bells. Tygra slipped one arm around her waist and pulled her even closer to him. After such a long time alone, the skin-to-skin contact was intoxicating. The two tigers curled around each other in a tangle of limbs and stripes. Siberia cuddled even closer.  
"Mmmm, you don't suppose . . .?" she began in a sultry voice. Tygra groaned.  
"Three times is about my limit, love," he said with a twinge of regret. "Even that's pretty unbelievable." He looked down at the woman in his arms. "Of course, everything about this night has been unbelievable."  
"You can say that again," Siberia purred. Tygra gently stroked her cheek with the backs of his knuckles. Siberia gave a deep sigh.  
"I wish this could last," she said wistfully. Tygra brushed her hair away from her face, tracing the path of his fingers with his lips.  
"Maybe it can," he said softly. "I know the circumstances were a little odd, but maybe this is the fabled you-know-what at first sight." The golden tiger's expression grew solemn.  
"Don't say that," she mumbled. "You'll jinx everything." She traced the dark stripes on his shoulder with one fingertip, ignoring his puzzled look. Tygra simply drew her close and held her. Given the fact that he had been awake for nearly 24 hours, it should have been no surprise when he dozed off. He had not idea how much time had passed before he was awakened by someone laying a cloth across his nose and mouth. Tygra jerked, scenting the chemicals that had been poured onto the cloth. His eyes popped open. Siberia was leaning over him, holding an ether-soaked cloth over his mouth and nose. She had an incredibly sorrowful look on her face. Tygra grabbed her arm, but it was like an iron bar. He couldn't budge it an inch.  
"It's all right; I'm not going to hurt you. I promise," she said softly. Maybe he was a trusting idiot. Maybe he was a sucker for a pretty face and an hourglass figure. Maybe the sudden release of all that sexual frustration had addled his brain, but he believed her. Tygra lay back and inhaled deeply. Siberia's face crumpled as she realized he trusted her. Tears swam in her smoky blue eyes.  
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. That was the last thing he knew for a long time.

"What do you mean Tygra didn't come back last night?" Panthro roared. Cheetara, Bengali, Pumyra and Snarf were gathered in the control room. Lion-O, the Thunderkittens, and Snarfer had spent the night at the Tower, coaxing in a damaged spacecraft.  
"Don't yell at me!" Snarf yelled back. "I tried waking you up; you practically threw me out the door! Besides, the Eye of Thundera didn't warn Lion-O of any danger. Cheetara's sixth sense didn't go off. Whatever happened to him, he's probably not in any danger." Panthro scowled ferociously. As much as he hated to admit it, Snarf had a point.  
"Well—we have to find him! Bengali, you come with me; we'll take the Thundertank and patrol the west side! Cheetara, Pumyra, you two stay here in case he comes back!" The two males raced for the garage.  
"Wait a minute!" Cheetara cried, following them. Pumyra exchanged looks with Snarf. The two of them shrugged and followed the others down to the garage. Panthro was gathering his nunchaku as Bengali opened the cockpit of the Thundertank.  
"I should come with you," Cheetara protested. "My sixth sense would come in handy!"  
"Uh, guys?" Bengali called.  
"When we find him, we might need to carry him. Bengali would be a bigger help then," Panthro said dismissively.  
"Guys?"  
"You have to find him first. You don't have the first clue where to look. Besides, the Thundertank can carry more than two people."  
"Guys!"  
"Hmm, you're right. We'll have a much better chance of finding him with your help," Panthro conceded.  
"I just found him!" Bengali cried. The others turned towards him. He pointed into the 'tank's front seat. The others gathered around. Tygra was sprawled across the front seats, naked from the waist up. The lower half of his uniform had been pulled up barely enough to cover the essentials. His shirt had been thrown in his lap. It looked like someone had tried to dress him while he was unconscious and had given up after marginal success.  
"Is he drunk?" Panthro asked. Pumyra leaned in and sniffed the tiger's breath.  
"He doesn't smell like booze," she announced. She took another sniff. "He smells like . . .. strawberries?" They all frowned at that.  
"Let's get him out of there," Panthro muttered. Pumyra and Cheetara grabbed Tygra's shoulders and pushed him into a sitting position. Panthro and Bengali leaned in from the other side to grab his arms. Cheetara looked down at Tygra's back.  
"Oh!" Her eyes grew wide.  
"What?" Bengali asked. Cheetara turned red, but didn't answer. Pumyra looked down at Tygra's back and laughed.  
"What is it?" The white tiger repeated. When he got no answer, he and Panthro hauled Tygra out of the Thundertank and looked for themselves. Tygra's back was covered with light scratches.  
"Looks like someone had a fun night!" Pumyra announced. Panthro turned a bit red himself, but gave Tygra a shake.  
"Come on, Tygra! Wake up! You've got some questions to answer!" The panther cried. Tygra never twitched. Panthro and Bengali propped him up on a piece of equipment. Pumyra lifted one of his eyelids. His pupils were so dilated only a thin ring of orange showed.  
"He's been doped to the gills," Pumyra announced.  
"You don't think he fell off the wagon, do you?" Snarf asked. Pumyra rolled her eyes.  
"Not unless he could drug himself into unconsciousness, then carry himself in here and throw himself in the Thundertank," she announced. "Someone else did this to him." The puma healer took his left hand and felt for his pulse. In doing so, she turned his arm so that his hand was facing palm up. His pulse was slow, but steady. Something caught Pumyra's eye. On the inside of Tygra's elbow was a tiny red mark. Pumyra frowned.  
"What is that?" Bengali asked.  
"It's a needle mark," Pumyra announced gravely. She sighed. "Given that fact that I don't know what was given to him or how much, I'd say the best thing would be for him to sleep it off. Let's get him to the infirmary."

"Hey sweetie, what's your rush?" A greasy puma called to the red tigress passing him in the street. At least he thought she was red. The combination of street lamplight and the light of the rising sun was giving her color a strange, washed-out appearance. She was mostly covered in a black leather coat that reached her ankles. A pair of black leather boots darted out from under the coat as she strode purposefully down the street. A large brown leather bag rode on her shoulder.  
"Fuck off!" she roared at him. The expression on her face could have dissolved into tears or burst into a screaming rage.  
"Geez, what a bitch," he spat. The woman stopped for a second, then turned and kicked a transport parked on the curb as hard as she possibly could. As hard as that could have been, it really shouldn't have tipped the transport over. The vehicle teetered on its side for a moment then slowly rolled over, crushing the glass of its cockpit. The woman waited for a moment then kicked it again, sending the thousand pound machine skittering across the pavement like a bottle cap. The transport jumped the curb and slammed into a building across the street. The puma made a hasty and quiet retreat. Siberia put her hands on her knees and hung her head. She was so close to reaching her goals; she had every item she needed. The next lunar eclipse was in one four days; all she had to do was have patience and lay low and her goal would soon be realized. Why is it that all she could think about was the man she had spent the night with? The memory of those tender orange eyes, gentle hands and incredibly talented mouth haunted her, but the aching warmth in her heart was what tormented her the most. It couldn't be . . . could it? She couldn't have . . . could she? Could people really fall in l—form such a bond so fast? She'd never done anything so stupid in her life! Not that she normally would have minded the possibility of a mate, a little house and two and three quarters offspring, but the timing couldn't have been worse! As the old saying went: When hearts were united, a man and a woman falling in love was only natural. Siberia snarled to herself and kicked the lamppost next to her, bending it in two. She would have to get soppy now. That was Nature for you; always dealing off the bottom of the pack. No wonder they called her a mother . . . . .

Panthro rubbed his forehead.  
"Okay, let me get this straight: You were on your way home last night when you were sidetracked by a golden tigress who seduced you, engaged you in a wild night of animal passion, then drugged you and dropped you off in the Thundertank for no apparent reason. Does that sum it up?"  
"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Tygra mumbled, obviously embarrassed.  
"Why can't stuff like that ever happen to me?" Bengali groused. Pumyra snickered. She glanced at the medical charts she held.  
"I can't find anything foreign in your system. Whatever Hotpants did, she didn't inject anything into you," The puma announced with a lecherous grin. Tygra turned redder. "BUT, if she didn't put anything in, then she took something out. Any idea why she would want your blood?" For the first time since he had awakened, the hangdog expression disappeared from Tygra's face, replaced by one of shock.  
"My blood? I—I don't know." Panthro sighed and stood up, a determined look on his face.  
"I think we should pay this golden tigress of yours a little visit," he announced.

The sign over the shop read "Herbal Medicines", but everyone in the area knew you could acquire things much more potent than ginseng tea there. With the right tone of voice and a little cash slid casually across the counter, you could get everything from a mild curse to a love potion. The shop was set in a section of the city that regular people only passed through when they absolutely had to. Every city has one of these areas; it's where criminals, riffraff and other assorted vagabonds gravitate to. Most of the shops have gaudy neon signs and/or a barker out front harassing passers-by with extremely exaggerated descriptions of the men and women performing inside. Individuals hawking little bags of chemical heaven throng two to a corner. People walk the streets staring straight ahead like they were wearing blinders. Eye contact was tantamount to a death threat. Areas like this always have nickname; against all reason, this area of Capitol City was called The Guardians.

It was through this area that Siberia strode furiously. The locals didn't bother her. Anyone who could walk through The Guardians radiating such rage was not someone to mess with. The golden tigress kicked open the door to Herbal Medicines and walked straight past a startled customer into the back room. The shopkeeper, an old, crippled tiger by the name of Lungri, eyed Siberia, and then nodded reassuringly to his customer.  
"Take no notice of her, sir. It's woman's troubles," he said, winking casually.  
"Ah." The man took his purchase and left. Lungri hobbled to the door with the use of a cane and locked it. Scowling to himself, he made his way into the back room.  
"'It's woman's troubles'?" she sneered when he entered. "Do you try to be offensive?"  
"Did you get the last two items?" Lungri asked, ignoring her question.  
"Yes," Siberia growled, digging into her shoulder bag. She withdrew two vials, one nearly full of bright red blood, the second about half full of a white, semi-fluid substance. She handed them over. Lungri took the two vials and hobbled over to a locked cabinet. Taking out an iron ring heavy with keys, he unlocked the cabinet. The contents could have stocked a horror movie. A pair of orange eyes floated in a small jar. A heart the right size and shape to be Thunderan floated in a larger jar. A severed hand bearing the spots of the leopard clan was wrapped in a plastic bag. A pair of fangs were suspended in a jar of honey. A severed tongue wrapped in plastic finished the cabinet. Lungri placed the vial of blood in a small stand then turned back to Siberia.  
"And what did you have to do to get this?" he leered, flourishing the other vial. To her utter embarrassment, she felt her cheeks turning red.  
"Fuck you!" she spat.  
"Looks like somebody beat me to it," Lungri announced gleefully. "The blood and seed have to be from a noble warrior, you know. Did this guy count?"  
"Yes," Siberia whispered, the memory stabbing her heart. "He was a ThunderCat."  
"A ThunderCat? I'm surprised a ThunderCat would touch you with a ten-foot pole," the cripple announced.  
"Fuck You! I can be sweet and lovely when someone isn't pissing me off from minute to minute!"  
"Right," Lungri sneered. "Wait, you said 'He WAS a ThunderCat'? You were supposed to let this one live."  
"I DID."  
"Good. No one really cares when scumbags die, but a dead ThunderCat is more scrutiny than I'd like." The old man placed the vial of 'seed' next to the vial of blood and closed and locked the cabinet. "Now we just have to wait for the lunar eclipse. Come here next Tuesday at nine in the morning, were-tiger. And be prepared to walk out a normal tigress."

"Are you sure this is the best way to go about this?" Bengali asked as he walked with Tygra and Pumyra through the city's central market.  
"The Fire Brigade said someone burned down the house I was in this morning. We won't find anything there. A golden tigress should stick in people's memories, though," Tygra reasoned. "We'll just ask around."  
"If you say so, stud," Pumyra said. Tygra turned red. The female puma hadn't stopped dropping sexual innuendo into the conversation since he had awoken. Who knew Pumyra was such a pervert?

Siberia kept walking after she left Herbal Medicines. She hadn't slept in days. She tried not to sleep these days; her own inner demons coughed up more horrendous nightmares than sleep deprivation ever could. She sighed. For a were-tiger, she thought she was pretty peaceful. Until a few weeks ago, she had only ever killed animals while she was in her beast form. But the hunts started. She hunted down Lungri and threatened to eat him unless he gave her an antidote to her lycanthrope. He had a spell, but the cost was too great. Five people needed to die to kill the beast inside of her. She had balked, refused to spill Thunderan blood. Then she had been caught in that impromptu were-cat hunt. If it weren't for her supernatural strength, she wouldn't have been able to tear off that lock and escape. Siberia had gotten scared then. If she did have to kill, she was going to pick the people who most deserved to die. She began to hunt rapists and murderers. Technically, she was doing society a favor by getting rid of these scumbags. She would have thought her subconscious would have let that go, but she was still haunted by their dying screams. She prowled the streets for days at a time, only resting when she fell from complete exhaustion. There was no winning in this situation. Hell, she didn't even want to be a normal Thunderan. The kiss of moonlight on her skin and the ripple of bone and muscle into her beast form were absolutely delicious. She wanted to stay alive, though. This was the situation that had her stumbling towards the marketplace after being awake for 30 hours straight. Maybe if she'd been more awake she wouldn't have walked right into the ThunderCats.

"I'm looking for a golden tigress. She's about so tall; she has blonde hair and red stripes and blue eyes," Tygra gave the description to a passing housewife. The woman stared at him for a second, then looked over his shoulder.  
"You mean her?" She asked, pointing. Tygra whirled. Siberia was just stepping off of the curb. She was swathed from chin to toe in black leather, a long black leather coat swirling around her feet. By chance, she happened to look up and meet his eyes. Siberia froze. Tygra froze. What was he supposed to say? What about last night? What about her tears of shame? She was staring at him like a trapped animal stares at the hunter. She was obviously terrified. Her eyes held not the sweet uncertainness of the night before, but stomach-clenching fear. The uncertainty had melted his heart. This fear was tearing it out.  
"Tygra, I don't know if this is working." Bengali called as he approached from the next street over. He was only a few feet away from his teammate when he noticed Tygra staring at something. The white tiger followed his gaze. A beautiful blonde tigress tore her eyes from Tygra's to give Bengali a deer in the headlights look.  
"HEY!" He bellowed. Siberia whirled and bolted, Bengali close on her heels.  
"Wait!" Tygra cried. He wanted to tell Bengali to calm down. He just needed to talk to Siberia; he was sure there was a good reason for what she did.  
"PUMYRA!!!! WE GOT HER!!!!" Bengali roared, alerting most of the city. Pumyra came flying out of the crowd to join the chase. She quickly passed Bengali and started gaining on Siberia.  
"Freeze!" Pumyra ordered. Siberia increased her speed. "Freeze means stop!" Pumyra offered helpfully. The golden tigress darted into an alley.  
'Gotcha!' Pumyra thought to herself. 'That alley is a dead end!' The puma jumped into the alley. It was empty.  
"What the hell?" She cried out loud. Bengali stumbled up behind her, wheezing like the bellows in his forge.  
"That girl runs like a cheetah!" He declared. Pumyra ignored him. Where the hell was the golden tigress?! A movement from above caught her eye. The trailing edge of a black leather coat was disappearing over the edge of the roof. Okay, she had obviously taken the fire escape to the roof, now how did she climb six stories in as many seconds? Pumyra whipped off her belt and wrapped around the end of one of the fire escape platforms. She flicked an acid ball out and hurled it at the supports on the other end of the platform. The acid caused the platform to collapse, catapulting the ThunderCat onto the roof.  
"Great; now how do we get up?" Bengali muttered as Tygra reached his side.

Pumyra stumbled as she hit the roof, falling to her hands and knees. Siberia was at the other end of the roof, legs pumping as she charged towards the next building.  
"Stop!" Pumyra roared. Siberia ignored her and launched herself into space. A few seconds later, her boots thudded solidly onto the roof of the next building over. The tigress didn't waste time hanging around; she was already half way across the next roof. Pumyra steeled herself. It was an impressive jump, but it wasn't impossible. She launched herself forward. For a second, she was weightless, heart pounding in her throat then her feet hit the edge of the parapet. Make that the balls of her feet; her heels were still on thin air. Pumyra's arms spun like windmills before she managed to topple forward. Behind her, she heard the crack of Tygra's whip as the architect wrapped it around a flagpole and pulled himself up, Bengali hanging onto his neck.  
"Pumyra! Where's--?"Tygra began. Pumyra pointed towards the retreating tigress.  
"That way! Come on!" The three charged after their quarry. The next jump was all right; Pumyra knew exactly how much to put into it now, but . . . the tigress wasn't even letting the twelve foot jumps slow her down. She barely broke stride as she leapt from building to building. Pumyra felt she really should have been putting more effort into it. As if Siberia could read her mind, she suddenly poured on the speed. The ThunderCats caught a glimpse of the next jump. Siberia was preparing to jump one of the city's major thoroughfares. The span was forty feet if it was an inch.  
"No way she can make that!" Bengali cried. The tigress launched herself into thin air. The ThunderCats screeched to a halt at the edge of the roof, mouths hanging open in astonishment. For a minute, it looked like the golden tigress was going to make it. Then gravity started to take its toll and she began to drop. Siberia tucked herself into a small ball as she smashed through a fourth story window.  
"No way!" Bengali breathed.  
"Quick, we've got to get over there!" Tygra cried. There was construction on the next building over. A crane swung slowly around over the street. Tygra uncoiled his whip and wrapped it around the crane, the startled operator bringing it to a halt. Pumyra threw her arms around his neck while Bengali grabbed the whip's handle just above Tygra's hand. The three swung across the street. Pumyra let go first, sprinted to the other end of the roof and looked over the edge. "There she goes!" The tigress staggered out a door and started to run again. Pumyra took a quick look around. There was a cable running parallel to the building, to bring up materials for the construction next door. Pumyra whipped off her belt and threw it over the cable, sliding down the length after the tigress. When she was twelve feet above her target, she let go, slamming into the tigress's back. That should have put the little sneak down for the count. Instead, Siberia sprang back to her feet, twisted and backhanded Pumyra across the face. It was a slap; it wasn't even a real punch. It still lifted Pumyra off of her feet and sent her flying.  
"Pumyra!" Bengali cried in dismay. He hooked the Hammer of Thundera over the cable and slid down. "Bitch! Leave her alone!" he cried, charging at Siberia. Tygra wrapped his whip around the cable and slid down after them, although he didn't know if he could bring himself to attack Siberia. With a roar, Bengali grabbed at her. Siberia caught his fists and held him away from her.  
"Bitch!" he repeated. "If you hurt Pumyra, I'll make you pay!" Without a word, the golden tigress kneed him in the gut. The white tiger choked and coughed, going to his knees. Siberia turned to run, but Bengali threw his arms around her legs, tripping her up.  
"Let go!" she cried, kicking at him. Bengali managed to pull the Hammer of Thundera free, but it was kicked from his hand. It skittered across the pavement, shedding smoke-balls as it went.  
"Siberia! Wait!" Tygra yelled. "Please! I just want to talk to you!" Siberia hesitated, her mouth opened to speak. Suddenly, a white hand slammed into her face from below, jamming a smoke ball into her mouth. Bengali gave her an uppercut to the jaw, forcing her to bite down on the ball. Dark smoke shot out of her mouth and nose as she fought not to inhale. Siberia dropped to the ground, choking and clawing at her mouth and nose. She was suffocating! She couldn't breathe! Blackness whirled up to engulf her vision and the golden tiger fell still.

Siberia prowled the forests of night. The moon above her was full and bright, adding an extra zing to her step. Coming out of the shadows, Siberia caught sight of her reflection in a forest pool. A great cat stared back at her. The creature was nearly ten feet from nose to tail tip, graceful and silent in the night. The gold of her coat shimmered in the moonlight, highlighted by the dark red stripes. Her eyes flashed, smoky blue and wise. If anyone had been bold enough to weigh her in this form, she would have tipped the scales at five hundred pounds. Siberia loved her beast form. She was beauty in its deepest form. The sound of a struggle reached her, causing her rounded ears to prick upright. Siberia flowed into a run towards the sound. She struggled through mud and muck before coming abruptly out of the jungle into a filthy alley in the Guardians. A male leopard dropped the body of the young jaguar girl he had just strangled. The girl's dead eyes stared straight at Siberia. With a roar, Siberia's lips pulled back from her three and a half inch fangs as she charged. She slammed into the Thunderan and tore into his body, slashing and biting. The man howled in pain and fought her, but he might as well have tried to fight a force of nature. Within a few minutes, he was dead. Siberia dropped the carcass and roared in satisfaction. Leisurely, she settled down and began to eat her kill. A small bone lodged in her teeth. Siberia carefully picked it out with her finger. Finger? Looking down at herself, she saw that she was back in her Thunderan form. When had that happened? A bit puzzled, she continued tearing hunks of flesh from her victim and stuffing them greedily into her mouth. She had never fed in her Thunderan form before, but it didn't seem to bother her now. It was like her mind was still stuck in beast form. A bright light suddenly appeared at the end of the alleyway. Siberia cowered and hissed at the light. The light coalesced into the form of a man wearing a brilliant white hooded robe. Siberia growled and crouched protectively over her kill. The man came closer and she could see the ThunderCat emblem on his chest. He pushed his hood back. It was Tygra. He smiled at her and knelt before her, blood staining his white robe. Siberia started to tell him he was getting dirty, but he gave her a fierce kiss. It was a possessive kiss. She pulled back wide eyed. Blood and mud were smeared across his face, making him look like a primal, savage beast. Making him look like her. Tygra gave her a slow, sexy smile then growled low in his throat. Siberia's eyes grew wide as he tore off his robe, throwing the pristine fabric down in the muck and filth. He pounced on her, taking her there in the alleyway. Their bestial cries filled the night air. Siberia felt such happiness; she had finally found a kindred spirit. Then her eyes fell on the torn, soiled ThunderCat Emblem. Seeing the symbol of her people's nobility in such a state was disturbing. She felt . . . cold . . .alone . . . . it was a very bad omen.

Siberia awoke still disturbed. Where the hell was she now? She was lying in a soft bed with crisp white sheets. That was a good sign. The golden tigress sat up slowly. Her coat and boots were gone, but she was still fully clothed. The room she was in was dark, but Siberia willed her night vision to improve. After a moment, her pupils dilated. Oh bloody hell. She wasn't in a room she was in a cell. Cursing soundly, Siberia leapt out of the bed and ran to the bars of her prison. She gave them an experimental rattle and the lights flipped on.  
"I see you're finally awake." Siberia blinked back tears. The puma that had tackled her on the street was standing in the doorway. The girl looked less than pleased to see Siberia up and around. The livid bruise that ran from her cheek to her chin probably had something to do with it.  
"Where am I?" Siberia asked.  
"You're in the Lair, sleeping beauty. Now that you're finally up, you've got some questions to answer," Pumyra said sternly. She left the doorway and stepped back into the hallway. Sleeping beauty? Gods, how long had she been out? Siberia strode to the small, barred window and stared out. She couldn't see the moon, but there was something in the air . . . a sudden pain assaulted Siberia's backside. Grimacing, she reached down the back of her black leather pants and pulled out a long cylindrical object, golden with red stripes. By the gods, if her tail was this long, it meant the full moon was very close. Siberia always had a tail, but it only got longer than a few inches or so in the week before a full moon. Adjusting the waistband of her pants, she was about to test the strength of the bars, when more of the lunar changes asserted themselves. Her teeth swelled and lengthened, pushing her lips out, making them look fuller. Her tongue and vocal chords thickened, making her voice low and sultry and making it harder to speak. By the sudden clarity that came to her vision, she knew her eyes had changed as well. By the gods, it must be the night before the full moon for all this to happen to her. The lunar phase called to her to change into her beast form, but she couldn't do it here. She was still trapped; her beast form was strong, but it was stupid, too. She needed to think.

"Yeah, she's awake. Maybe we'll get some answers now," Pumyra's voice came through the door. No, not the door; she was still out in the hallway. Siberia ran her hands through her hair and confirmed what she already suspected. Her ears had slid up to the top of her head, changing from elegant points to round and furry. Pumyra came through the door, followed by Tygra, Bengali, Panthro, and Lion-O. Siberia recognized the Lord of the ThunderCats from television. She recognized the others as well, but had a hard time remembering their names. Her mind was trying to slip into beast form; she always had a hard time remembering names and words when she was fighting the Change. Tygra her beast side recognized as 'mate'. The five ThunderCats drew chairs up before the cell. They were obviously anticipating a long interrogation. Lion-O crossed his arms sternly.  
"All right; who are you and why did you attack my teammates?" He demanded. Siberia stared at him from under a thin curtain of blonde hair, her breathing starting to labor. Standing with her back against the back wall, she slowly slid down until she was on her knees.  
"Defense," she managed to blurt. Her body was screaming at her to change; she had never felt it so strongly. Was the impending lunar eclipse affecting her self-control?  
"What?" Lion-O asked. Tygra leaned toward his Lord.  
"I think she means self-defense. Pumyra attacked her first, then Bengali," the architect murmured.  
"Oh. Well then, who are you?" Lion-O continued, still trying to keep up the tough-guy act.  
"I am me," Siberia growled. "Who else would I be?" Her voice purred across the ears of the men. It brought to mind wild silk, hot night wind and sweaty summer sex. The four male ThunderCats shifted as her voice tantalized their imaginations. Lion-O swallowed with effort.  
"Do-do you have a name?" He asked. Siberia rolled down from her knees and crawled towards the bars. It was almost a prowl; she placed her hands slowly and carefully, and the enticing wriggle of her leather-clad ass brought sweat to the foreheads of her interrogators. She stopped about a foot from the bars and pointed with on languid hand to Tygra.  
"He knows me," she breathed. The tone of her voice suggested that he knew her in every sense of the word. Tygra swallowed. By the gods, she was irresistible. As a man, the four ThunderCats casually crossed their legs. Pumyra made a disgusted noise and buried her face in her hands.  
"What day?" Siberia asked.  
"What day is it? It's Monday," Panthro answered. Siberia made a distressed sound.  
"Time?! What – what is the time?!" She managed to growl.  
"It's about 11:30 at night," Bengali stated. Siberia yowled in distress and sat back on her haunches, laying her face on the ground. Tygra hesitated. Something was definitely wrong. Siberia was quite upset about something, but the delicious wiggle of her rear end, accented by her lovely lashing tail was making it hard for him to think straight. Tail? She hadn't had a tail before. The essential wrongness of this fact cut through the testosterone fog clouding his mind. Siberia's tail made slow arcs a few inches above the floor. What in the hell? There was something wrong with her ears, too; they were high set on her head and round like an animals'. The small claws on the ends of her delicate fingers weren't so small anymore. Her fingers weren't all that delicate, either. Sexual arousal forgotten, Tygra leaned forward in his chair.  
"Siberia!" He bellowed. The woman in question jumped at the exclamation, staring at him with wide eyes. Tygra felt his jaw drop. Siberia's eyes were blue from outside edge to tear duct and lid to lid. Her pupils were harsh black slits twice the size of a normal Thunderans'. Her full, lush lips barely contained a mouthful of curved sharp teeth.  
"By Jaga!"  
"What in the name of . . !"  
"Eeeeewww!" Siberia started at the cries, staring at her captors in confusion. After a moment, she seemed to realize she was the source of disgust. A pitiful look crossed her features and she let out a wail of despair. Tygra forgot his disgust. Whatever form she took, this was still the woman who had stolen his heart. Siberia suddenly crouched and slammed herself again the cell door. The metal buckled around her body like it was made of straw. The heavy door slowly toppled over onto Lion-O, who was struggling to draw the Sword and leap up from his chair. This effectively pinned his sword arm across his chest. Panthro leapt back gracefully, landing in a defensive stance. Bengali tried to leap up from his chair, got tangled up in his own legs and managed to fall on Pumyra. Siberia bounded out of her cell and stood for a moment on the mangled door, surveying the scene. Lion-O's wild thrashing didn't seem to even register. Panthro bellowed and launched himself at the were-tiger, leg outstretched in his most powerful kick. Siberia whirled and caught him in the stomach with a spin kick. Panthro flew across the room like a rag doll, slamming into the wall with enough force to crack the plaster.  
"Siberia, wait!" Tygra cried. The golden tigress paused, crouched to run. "Siberia, please. This has gotten out of hand; I just want to talk to you. Please, can I talk to you?" he asked softly, slowly advancing on her. Siberia took a few steps back, eyeing him cautiously with her feral eyes. Lion-O took hold of the metal bars that still held him down. He could move it off of himself now, but he didn't want to risk spooking the golden tigress.  
"Siberia, I just want to know why you drugged me, that's all." Tygra was very close to her now. "If you wanted anything from me, you only had to ask. Do you understand?" Tygra held out an inviting hand. Siberia leaned forward and sniffed it warily. "Do you remember me, Siberia?" The golden tigress's eyes closed and she gently rubbed her cheek against Tygra's palm, a soft purring sound escaping from her throat. "That's right; I would never hurt you," he murmured gently. A soft smile came to Siberia's half-feral face. She opened her eyes and for moment it looked like she was about to speak, but she looked over Tygra's shoulder, hissed like a cornered cat, and bolted out the door. A moment after her hasty departure a smoke ball exploded on the doorframe.  
"Damn! Missed her!" Pumyra cried, empty sling still swinging in her hand.  
"You IDIOT!" Tygra screamed, ducking into the smoke to follow Siberia. The tigress was bolting down the hallway. She whipped up a set of side stairs, knocking aside Snarf in the process. Snarf sprawled across the stairs, spilling the pile of clean towels he carried. Tygra barely managed to hurdle the ex-nursemaid as he dashed after the tigress. At the top of the stairs, Tygra stopped. Siberia was standing in the front atrium of the Lair. Light from the moon formed a pool of silvery light around her. Technically, the moon wouldn't be full until tomorrow night, but it was too close to matter. Siberia closed her eyes and tilted her head back. For a second, her image seemed to shutter, then she fell forward, landing heavily on all fours. Her body was racked with sudden wrenching spasms. The spasms seemed to rearrange her anatomy, wrenching her limbs into disturbing new shapes. It wasn't until her knees reversed to hinge backwards did Tygra realize he wasn't imagining things. A sharp cry caught his attention. Cheetara and the kittens stood in the opposite doorway, watching the transformation unfold in horror. Tygra looked back to Siberia. Her body was swelling, her clothes ripping off of her. Her head reformed. A gigantic beast tiger shook itself free from the black leather scraps that still clung to it.  
"By the gods!" Lion-O had come up behind Tygra during the transformation. The tiger in the atrium looked up at them, gold and white fur shimmering in the moonlight. Even as a killer beast, she was still beautiful. Bengali, Pumyra, and Panthro made it up the stairs behind them, Panthro rubbing his stomach painfully. They gasped at the sight of Siberia's beast form. Siberia seemed to realize she was severely outnumbered. The great cat let out a roar that rattled the windows, then launched herself at the glass doors of the atrium. The broken glass sparkled around her like a rain of diamonds then she disappeared into the shadows.

At around one in the morning, Lungri was awakened by a jarring noise at his back door. Grabbing his cane and an electric torch, he went to investigate. A monster was in his back room. Glowing blue eyes reflected the light from his torch. Lungri took a deep breath in to scream the place down when he took note of the beast's coloring. A golden tiger with blue eyes? Lungri leaned in cautiously.  
"Siberia?" The creature bobbed its head slowly. Was that a nod?  
"I'm going to turn the lights on now," The cripple warned her before flipping the switch. The tiger flinched at the sudden brightness then lay down in the middle of the floor, her head resting on her massive paws. Lungri carefully inched his way around her to the back door. He had never actually seen Siberia in her beast form. He had seen her with the partial changes, and her supernatural strength attested to the fact that she wasn't normal, but he had never expected something like this. This thick lock and bolt on his back door had been torn away with one swipe of her massive paw. Lungri pushed the door shut and jammed a chair under the doorknob. Siberia didn't twitch. Lungri approached her hesitantly. Common sense told him to leave her alone and just go back to bed, but his curiosity got the better of him. The old tiger reached down and stroked the thick fur of his unexpected houseguest gently. Her fur was much softer than he would have imagined.  
"Wow," he whispered. Siberia looked up at him. There was incredible sorrow in those smoky blue eyes. "Don't worry; in a few more hours you'll be a normal tigress." Siberia made a small, mournful noise and laid her head back on the floor.

"We'll scour the city. Circulate pictures from the security cameras in both forms. Someone had to have seen her. If we split into teams we can find her before daybreak," Lion-O briefed the other ThunderCats. They nodded sharply.  
"ThunderCats, Ho!" They cried in unison, dashing off to their various tasks. The young Lord did a mental check and found himself short one red tiger. Where in the hell was Tygra? The architect was sitting on the steps of the Lair a few feet away, his chin resting on his hands. Lion-O approached him cautiously.  
"Tygra? Are you all right?"  
"No," Tygra muttered. The young lion settled down on the step next to his friend.  
"There's probably nothing I can do about it, is there?" He asked.  
"No."  
"Well, maybe I could just listen. Maybe that would help," he offered. Tygra gave his Lord a sidelong glance. Lion-O gave him an innocent, hopeful smile. The tiger sighed heavily.  
"I think I must be losing my mind," he began quietly. "The first night I met Siberia, I really felt something." A thousand smarmy jibes sprang to Lion-O's mind, but he kept them to himself. "She seemed so lonely, so heartsick. She didn't want to be alone. I-I didn't want to be alone either. I can't explain what I felt, Lion-O, but it felt so right." Tygra paused here for another deep sigh. "I don't know why Siberia is doing these things, but I know there has to be a good reason. I feel like we met for a reason. I feel like I'm meant to take care of her. Lion-O, please, when we find her, promise you'll listen to her before you mete out a punishment." Tygra asked, meeting his friend's eyes for the first time. Lion-O gave him a sad smile.  
"I promise, Tygra."

"It's time," Lungri stated gravely. Siberia sat on the floor where she had spent the night, as naked as the day she was born. She had shifted back to her Thunderan form when the sun rose, but the wild bestial side of her still roared in her chest, fighting to get out. Soon that part of her would be gone forever.  
"It's – it's time to prepare," Lungri repeated, inching closer to her. Siberia nodded silently. Lungri gently pulled her hair away from her face, securing it in a loose coil at the nape of her neck. The old man picked up a small dish full of powdered henna and carefully poured the vial full of Tygra's blood into it, chanting under his breath. When the mixture had been reduced to a runny paste, Lungri picked up a small brush and began to paint mystic symbols on Siberia's body. He began at her back and worked his way up across her shoulders and down her arms. As he was painting her shoulder, he paused for a look at her face. Siberia's face was an emotionless mask, but tears streamed down her cheeks, trickling down her throat and dripping onto her bare breasts.  
"Don't worry; it will be over soon," Lungri said quietly.  
"We've got her, Lion-O!" Panthro cried. "She was spotted entering a shop in a really nasty part of The Guardians last night. Apparently, she frequents the shop in her Thunderan form; she probably feels safe there." Lion-O nodded, and turned to the re-assembled ThunderCats.  
"Right; we'll surround the building and _quietly_ enter it. If we can, we're going to let Tygra try to talk her out without incident, so no cheap shots, all right?" Pumyra looked suitably abashed. "Okay then, I'm sure we can get through this without anyone getting hurt. Thunder Cats- - -"  
"HO!"

Siberia sat cross-legged inside a chalk circle, watching with detachment as Lungri chalked out a transformation mandala around her.  
"With the heart of a lion, I bind this beast," he chanted, placing the heart in it's own chalk circle inside the mandala.  
"With the eyes of a tiger, I see the form I wish," he continued, taking the two eyes from their jar and placing them in another circle.  
"With the paw of a leopard, I grasp the magic to change this woman." There was a tiny creak from the rafters above. If Siberia were in her right mind, she would have instantly zeroed in on the shadowy forms of the two ThunderCats hidden in the shadows.

"By the gods," Bengali whispered. "This is disgusting!" Pumyra didn't comment, but the look on her face agreed with his assessment.

"With the fangs of a panther, I subdue this magic," Lungri continued, oblivious to his uninvited guests. A shimmer of light at the back of the room caught his eye. The old cripple paused, staring at the spot. He thought he had seen something. Oh well, it must have been nothing.  
"With the tongue of a jaguar, I speak this magic," he finished, placing the tongue in the last circle. Wrapped in invisibility at the corner of the room, Tygra let out a low breath. He thought the old man had seen him for a second. Now they just had to wait for Panthro and Lion-O to make their appearance. Cheetara, Lynx-O and the twins were stationed outside the shop, in case either Siberia or the old man made a break for it. Lungri withdrew a vial of a white, semi-fluid substance and picked up a bowl filled with a bloody paste. Tygra blinked. That blood was probably his. In the vial . . . it looked like . . . was that . . . ?

"Ew," Pumyra breathed. "That's not what I think it is, is it?" Lungri stopped just outside of Siberia's circle. Dabbing his finger in the paste, he made a blood-red dot right between the golden tigress's eyebrows.

"I offer the blood of a noble warrior for this change," he intoned. There was a loud pounding at the front door. The ThunderCats prepared for their parts. Here was the diversion; as soon as the old man left they would sweep in and put a stop to this. Lungri never blinked. Uh-oh; the plan wasn't working.  
"I offer the seed of a noble warrior for this change," Lungri continued. Taking the vial of seed, the old man tipped it down Siberia's throat.

"See, **_she_** doesn't mind it," Bengali whispered reproachfully to Pumyra. Pumyra's popped open wide. Her face turned a particularly interesting shade of crimson. With growl, she belted Bengali across the face as hard as she could. The white tiger lost his perch in the rafters and crashed to the floor. Lungri twisted towards the sound, spotted the intruders, and quickly moved to finish the spell.  
"By the blood and the seed, by the life force they carry, change this woman!" Lungri splattered the last of the bloody paste across Siberia and hobbled out of the mandala. The chalk lines began to glow a brilliant white. The old man suddenly felt himself lifted off the ground by his collar. A moment later, a very angry red tiger materialized an inch away from his nose.  
"Stop the spell!" Tygra ordered.  
"I can't!" Lungri squawked. "It's begun! Look, she's starting to change!" All four of them turned towards the mandala. The blood spattered across Siberia's body began to spread, darkening to a rich chestnut color. Where the substance touched her stripes, the red darkened to black. A ring of orange appeared around the rim of her irises, creeping it's way inward. Siberia was changing into a red tigress. There was a crash as the front door was kicked down.  
"By the gods!" Panthro cried, coming into the room, followed by Lion-O. "What's happening?!"  
"She's changing into a red tiger," Pumyra breathed.  
"How do we stop it?" Panthro demanded.  
"The spell has been cast!" Lungri cried. "You can't stop it!"  
"We'll see about that," the panther growled, striding forward. The ThunderCat engineer stopped by the chalked circle holding the heart and pulled back one leg.  
"No!!!" Lungri screamed, seeing his intent. "Don't change the pattern!" There was real terror in the old tiger's voice.  
"Panthro, wait!" Lion-O and Tygra cried in the same voice. They were too late. Panthro kicked the heart across the mandala, sending it smack into the hand, which hit the wall, flew up and back into the circle, landing on the fangs. The fangs went flying, landing in what had been merely decorative chalk circles, but turned into mystical circles just big enough for a tooth each. The mandala's lines and runes were smeared and broken, streaked with blood. The light the mandala gave off died for a minute then came roaring back at full force. Siberia, who had been sitting motionless inside her circle, suddenly thrashed wildly and let out a scream of agony. The blood paste staining her skin lifted off of it's own accord, forming a cloud of red haze around her. There wasn't a trace of red or black in her coloring now; she was a golden tiger again. The red cloud suddenly poured into Siberia's mouth and nose. The tigress's body began to convulse, wracked by seizure after seizure. Her eyes had rolled completely back in her head, only the whites showing. Foam dripped from the corner of her mouth. Then she lay still. The watchers leaned in cautiously.  
"Is she dead?" Lion-O whispered. Lungri shrugged. Then Siberia exploded.

The next few minutes were difficult to describe; mostly they involved a sea of steadily expanding gold, teeth erupting from a gaping maw like spring daisies, and rafters cracking across shoulders suddenly too high to be contained by the ceiling. When the dust had settled, Lion-O found himself looking up into a face that would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life. While this face was along the same basic lines of the beast tiger he had seen before, now the face alone was five feet across. A pair of canines the same size and shape as scimitars jutted out of the corners of the mouth. The face would have been disconcerting at a distance of three feet; because of the sudden cramped quarters, Lion-O found himself about six inches away from the monster. Eyes the size of dinner plates narrowed, trying to focus down on him. Lion-O's shoulder blades made a spirited attempt to dig their way through the wall. The great wide nose sniffed deeply, ruffling his hair. The monster seemed to digest his scent for a moment then the black lips peeled back in a snarl, revealing a double row of teeth that a Great White shark would envy. The tiger shifted, trying to back away from him. Splintered rafters stabbed at the creature's back, causing her to roar in pain. The jaw cracked open nearly to the ears, giving the impression that the top half of the creature's head had come loose. Lion-O stared into a gaping maw that could swallow him whole, small gibbering noises escaping from his throat. The beast that had been Siberia reared back again, trying to find some room. Lion-O took the opportunity to scuttle out from under the beast's face on his elbows and heels. Farther away, he could now see the whole creature. Twenty feet of angry tiger was now crushed into a room that had been cramped with seven people in it. Siberia swatted at the wall in front of her with a paw the size of a door. Her forelimbs had an elongated thumb on each paw that was probably opposable, about five feet back along the lithe body was another set of forelimbs, these paws without the thumb, then about eight feet farther back were the hind legs, followed by a long tail that was easily two feet around. Jammed around and under her body were his teammates, all looking like they were making peace with whatever gods they happened to believe in. Siberia roared again, shattering the windows in the building. She thrashed around, scenting the fresh air. With great difficultly, Siberia managed to turn around, the planet's greatest warriors scrambling to stay out from under her feet. With one butt of her enormous head, the golden beast knocked down the far wall and crawled free of the constraining building.

Once outside, she shook herself free of the last clinging bits of wood and stood upright. That is, her body and first set of forelimbs rose off of the ground, like some sort of hellish feline centaur. Just out of reach of the fallen wood, the Thunderkittens stood, Kit with her arm cocked back to throw a pellet. The ten-year-old siblings stood frozen as the monster reared fifteen feet above them. Siberia didn't even seem to take notice of them, focusing instead on taking in her surroundings. The pellet suddenly exploded in Kit's hand, sending a stream of pink smoke trailing out behind her. The great beast looked down at them and came heavily back down to all sixes. The twins stayed frozen. Siberia came within a foot of them, sniffing. Some of the pink smoke trickled into her nose. The creature shook its huge head and sneezed, blowing the twins back about three feet. The two sat down hard, still looking stunned. Siberia carefully walked over them and continued into the streets.  
"Kit! Kat! Are you two Okay?" Lion-O asked running up to them. Kat met his eyes.  
"Uh," the boy announced. "Uhh. Uuuuuh." The male twin gestured down the street in the direction Siberia had taken.  
"Uh, yeah, we know where she went," Lion-O announced. Kat nodded coolly. Aside from the fact that he was having a hard time forming words, he seemed Okay. Lion-O turned his attention to WilyKit. The female twin was shaking, staring straight ahead.  
"Kat, can you get Kit back to the Lair? She looks like she might be a bit stunned," the young Lord asked. Wily Kat nodded and helped his sister to her feet. Down the street, the city echoed with screams as the hell-tiger made its way westward. The rest of the ThunderCats made their way out of the ravaged building and gathered around their Lord. There was a gold streak and Cheetara screeched to a halt among them.  
"What in the hell is that thing?!" She cried.  
"It's a long story," Pumyra began. Tygra interrupted her.  
"The city will be full of people at this time of the morning. We have to contain her before someone hurts her!" he cried. His teammates stared at him in silence.  
"Before someone hurts **_her_**?" Bengali echoed in disbelief. An indignant look crossed Tygra's face.  
"If she were nothing but a dumb, slavering beast, she could have had us all for tasty treats inside. She also walked right by the kittens without hurting them. I think I can still talk to her," he protested. The assembled ThunderCats turned their gaze to their Lord. Lion-O cursed a few times under his breath.  
"All right; one try! If it doesn't work the first time we switch to force, Okay?"

Siberia paced down the street, looking hesitant. People streamed away from her, screaming. Uneasily, the hell-tiger crept along the side of a building, still heading west. A golden streak zipped in front of her, coming to a stop in the form of Cheetara.  
"Hey ugly, over here!" she taunted. Siberia stopped, looking for a way around the ThunderCat. She finally executed a graceful leap over Cheetara's head and came down into a construction site. Whirling around, the great beast managed to sink one hind leg into a drainage hole. Yowling like all the demons in hell, the creature struggled to pull itself loose. There was a blue shimmer in the air in front of her, and Tygra materialized.  
"Siberia! Please listen to me!" He cried. "I don't know if you can understand me, but we just want to help you!" The hell tiger stopped its yowling and stared at the little tiger in front of it. It still struggled to free itself, but Tygra had captured its attention for the moment. "Siberia, please! We want to find a way to change you back. Please, do you understand?" Siberia blinked at him, then turned her attention back to her trapped leg. Tygra came closer; nearly close enough to touch her. "Siberia, please, we want you back the way you were." The beast glanced at him. "It's true, we want you back to normal. Well, mostly me. Okay, all me. Screw the others, I want you the way you were." The great head swung back around, puzzlement in its eyes. "Yes," he answered. "I don't care if you turn into an animal when there's a full moon. I just want you to be happy. And I want you to be with me." There was a moment of pregnant silence. "I think I love you, Siberia." The hell-tiger's great mouth opened. A tiny, kitten-like sound escaped. Tygra smiled. She understood. She felt the same way he did. The ThunderCat architect reached out and laid his hand on the monster's broad nose.  
"Everything is going to be Okay," he whispered. A moment later, sixteen tons of building material smashed into Siberia.

Tygra picked himself up off of the ground, coughing and waving away dust. From high up on the building under construction, he heard a faint cheer. As the dust began to settle, a faint moan reached his ears. Siberia was trapped under the rubble.  
"Siberia!" Tygra wailed, tearing at the steel beams and broken bricks. The hell-tiger's body seemed to deflate. It started to shrink before his very eyes. In the space of two minutes, Siberia's Thunderan form now lay among the rubble. Tygra pulled her from the wreckage, carrying her away from the point of impact and laying her down out of harm's way. His concern was a little belated. Siberia's beautiful body was crushed and mangled almost beyond recognition.  
"T-tygra . . . ?" she whispered. Tygra took her hand in his own.  
"I'm right here."  
"Did . . . did you mean that?"  
"Yes. I meant every word." Siberia managed to force a smile.  
"Oh. I think I love you, too. It makes me wish I wasn't dying," she said quietly. Tears sprang to Tygra's eyes.  
"You're not going to die, Siberia. I-I'm going to take care of you," he said sternly.  
"You know that's not true. I'm glad someone will miss me when I'm gone."  
"Siberia, no . . . "Despite his best efforts, tears were streaming down his cheeks. Siberia gave a strangled cough, blood spraying from her mouth.  
"Tygra, I'm kind of scared. Will you hold my hand?" Tygra looked down at her pale delicate fingers, already interlaced with his.  
"Of course I will," he said bravely. "Don't worry; I'm not going to leave you." Siberia smiled, blood welling up behind her teeth and running out of her mouth. A single tear ran out of the corner of her eye. The golden tigress laid her head back and died.  
"No . . ." Tygra whispered. "Don't go, please?" His plea sounded foolish even in his own ears. The light seemed to be dying from the world. Tygra looked up. In the sky above him, the moon began to block out the sun.

Lion-O watched as Bengali led a small group of tigers into the Lair. It was pouring down rain; it had been ever since they had brought Siberia's body back to the Lair. The public was calling for the corpse to be publicly burned, but Tygra had insisted that she would have a proper tiger clan funeral. Bengali had gone to find a priest. The white tiger strode into the room, shaking water from his rain slicker. Three tigers walked a step behind him; two male red tigers and a female white tiger. They were all on the older side; maybe a few years younger than Lynx-O.  
"How's Tygra doing, Lion-O?" Bengali asked.  
"About the same," he answered. Bengali made a face.  
"That bad, huh? Maybe Arjun can help. Lion-O, this is Arjun. He's going to be doing the ceremony." Bengali gestured to one of the male tigers. Arjun bowed low.  
"It is an honor to help a member of the nobility on to the next life," he said.  
"This is Vega, he's going to be setting up the funeral pyre," Bengali continued. The other man bowed equally low. "And this is Durga. She'll be preparing the body." Durga gave a nod and a slight bow. "I'd better let these guys get to work," Bengali said apologetically, leading them away.  
"Tygra, you really need to get some rest," Cheetara told her friend. Tygra and Cheetara were sitting in the medical bay, Siberia's body on gurney between them. She had been wrapped in a white sheet, but Tygra had pulled back the top so that her face was uncovered.  
"I'll rest when Bengali brings the priests," Tygra answered. "It's a tiger belief that the dead shouldn't be left alone." Cheetara frowned and hazarded a look at the corpse. The tigress looked like she was sleeping. Cheetara kept expecting her to move.  
"Can we at least cover her face? It's creepy looking at her like that."  
"No! You can't cover the face of a body before the soul leaves!" Cheetara stared at him. She hadn't realized Tygra was so adamant about tradition.  
"Before the soul leaves? How long does that take?"  
"Three days," Tygra answered. "She'll lie in state for three days before - - before her funeral pyre is lit." He choked mid sentence. It must have been incredibly difficult to realize the woman he loved was dead. The doors swung open, revealing Bengali followed by three other tigers.  
"Here she is," he said, gesturing at the body. "Come on, Tygra, you need a break and some food." Durga approached the body opening a large black case. Tygra got up to leave.  
"Oh!" The group turned back towards the exclamation. "I'm sorry," Durga apologized. "It's just that . . . she's quite beautiful."  
"She's incredibly beautiful," Tygra said sadly, following the others as they filed out of the room. Alone now, Durga sighed. The beauty of the deceased wasn't what had startled her. Rumors were flying around the city that the monster who had rampaged through the city the day before was actually a beautiful woman who was under the protection of the ThunderCats. Durga hadn't expected the rumors to be true. Unfortunately this meant the crushing death part would be true too. Durga hated preparing victims of crushing deaths; it was so hard to make them look natural. Judging by the amount of blood on the sheet, it had been a pretty thorough job, too. Durga braced herself and whipped off the sheet. Oh. It wasn't bad at all. In fact, Durga couldn't see what could have caused so much blood to get on the sheet; there were only a few superficial cuts on the body. As for the crushing; the woman had a broken leg and most of the bones in one hand were broken, but that was it. The body was virtually untouched. Durga shrugged and began to prepare the corpse for its funeral.

Three days later, the ThunderCats gathered for Siberia's funeral. The woman in question was placed on a wooden pallet inside a small simple wooden coffin, her body cushioned by thousands of fragrant vanil petals. Tygra and Bengali carried her up to the top of the pyre and placed her reverently at its summit. Ajun mounted the pyre and began the ceremony.  
"Friends, we are gathered here to wish our dear friend Siberia of the tiger clan a fine journey to her next life." The tiger priest paused. It sounded like someone had let out a muffled gasp near him. But there was no one else on the pyre. How very odd. "We did not know Siberia for very long, but she made her mark on all of us." Pumyra rubbed her bruised cheek. Panthro touched his still tender ribs. Ajun opened his mouth to continue, but stopped again. Now it sounded like someone was laboring to breathe very near him. But there was no one around. The only one besides him on the pyre was . . . . Ajun felt his gaze drawn to the coffin. It couldn't be. His imagination was running away with him.  
"Siberia left no family behind," Ajun continued with effort. "But she will be sorely missed." He picked up a large jar of _bachi_ oil and held it aloft. _Bachi_ oil had a very pleasant scent, but it was extremely flammable. It would get the fire started. Ajun leaned over the coffin to pour on the oil when he heard a light thump. The priest jumped backwards. There was no mistake; he had heard a thump from _inside the coffin_. It sounded as if someone had put their hand out in the dark and bumped into a wall.  
"Ajun? Is everything all right?" Vega called. Ajun looked at his friend, his face pale.  
"Ah . . "There was a loud bang and the lid flew off of the coffin. Siberia sat up, shedding _vanil_ petals. Ajun yelped and toppled backwards off of the pyre.  
"Siberia!" Tygra cried, loping up the pyre. Siberia looked around her, eyes wide.  
"I'm - - I'm in a coffin," she announced weakly.  
"Well, yeah; you're dead," Bengali announced.  
"I'm dead?" Siberia echoed. Tygra swept her up in a shower of petals.  
"No! No, no you're not dead!" He cried kissing her passionately.  
"Wait a minute, yes she is!" Durga cried. "I attended the body myself and she was as dead as a doornail!" Siberia stared at her in bewilderment, clutching her shroud around her. "I mean, she looked pretty good for a crushing victim, but she was definitely dead!"  
"'Looked pretty good'?" Panthro echoed. "What are you talking about; she barely looked Thunderan when we brought her in here." The two began to argue the finer points of Siberia's former disfigurement. Ignoring them, Tygra pulled Siberia into his arms and kissed her deep and long.  
"Tygra, what's going on?" She asked when they were finally finished. "I died? Why did I come back?" Tygra hugged her close as he thought. Of course, it was very hard to think with this curvaceous were-tiger snuggled into his arms, but - -  
"Maybe because you're a were-tiger?" he guessed. "Every story I ever heard says that you have to kill a were-tiger with silver. I don't care why, I'm just glad you're back." The two tigers clutched each other tight. As he pulled Siberia in for another kiss, Tygra knew without a doubt that he would never let her go again. Come hell or high water, he was never letting her out of his heart. They would be together forever.


	2. Family of Strangers, Part 1

**Chapter II:**

**_Family of Strangers, part 1_**

****

The huge spaceship drifted silently through the void of space. Let the mind's eye pan across it, taking in the sleek silver hull, the large ugly hole punched in one fuel tank, and the large red and black ThunderCat symbol painted on the side. Let the mind's eye move up to the cockpit. Five Thunderans sporting the ThunderCat symbol on various parts of their persons are in a heated exchange with an older man who had 'pilot' written all over him. In space, there is no sound. This is probably a good thing, considering the fact that the more gentle readers of this fanfic would have their vocabularies vastly expanded.

"So you're telling me we're stuck?! Set adrift in deepest space with no fuel?!" A large man of the leopard clan was bellowing at the captain.  
"We're not 'stuck'," The captain, an older man of the ocelot clan, corrected him. "We have some fuel, just not enough to make it to New Thundera. We need to think of a plan." The leopard man started in on him again, but a snow-white hand placed on his shoulder silenced him.  
"Easy, Pardus," a gentle voice whispered. Pardus half turned. The woman standing behind was of the incredibly rare snow leopard clan. She only came up to his shoulder. Her body color was light gray, decorated with the black spots of the leopard clan. Her color lightened to white on her face and hands. Her hair cascaded in sensuous waves down her back. She was incredibly beautiful.  
"If the captain thinks we can make it to New Thundera with a plan, then we should stop yelling at each other and think of one," The leopardess pointed out gently, her voice never rising above a whisper. Pardus relaxed slightly, taking her delicate hand in his.  
"You're probably right, Sarken," he admitted. "It's a good thing we have you around to keep a cool head."  
"Gods know no one else is going to," A voice muttered darkly. Pardus shot a dark look to a tall, slim man of the caracal clan.  
"Did you say something, Pyaber?" Pardus growled. Pyaber gave him a blank, innocent look.  
"Who, me?" With a sigh, Sarken placed one hand on Pardus's chin and turned his face back towards hers.  
"A plan?" She reminded him gently.  
"Yes, of course," Pardus smiled at his fellow ThunderCats, Sarken, Pyaber, a powerfully built puma man named Cabcoh, and a quiet lynx woman called Lusan. "After all, as ThunderCats, we need to know when to stop and think, and even when to ask for help." The others nodded their assent, sharing an affectionate smile with their teammates; their family.  
"Why don't you ask the other ThunderCat, whassername, Laini? She seems pretty smart," The captain offered. The cabin temperature seemed to drop about ten degrees. The ThunderCats had positive ideas about helping others and admitting when they needed help, but they also had very strong ideas about cocky little snots who were way too smart for their own good.  
"We'll think of something on our own," Lusan growled.

"Okay, let's try this again, Siberia. This time, try not to break the machine, all right?" Pumyra instructed, standing in the Lair's courtyard. The golden tigress she was addressing tossed a lock of hair over her shoulder and approached a large hulking machine.  
"It's not my fault this thing is so fragile. You told me to hit it as hard as I could," Siberia protested. Pumyra rubbed her forehead in the manner of the heavily put-upon everywhere.  
"'Fragile'," she muttered under her breath. "Look, this machine measures the force of a strike. Panthro built it last year to settle a bet between him and Bengali. Panthro punches a 207. Lion-O punches a 205, and Bengali can get up to 198. Last time you tried, you knocked the machine back ten feet and broke just about every part in the line of the strike. Panthro fixed it and re-enforced the pieces you broke before, so let's see if we can't get a reading this time."  
"Okay," Siberia muttered doubtfully, stepping up to the punching pad. The tigress pulled her left arm back slightly and punched. The meter clicked up to 503. She turned back to Pumyra with a bright smile.  
"There! You got a reading and I didn't break it. Are we done now?" Pumyra bit back a few choice words. Why in the hell had she been elected to run tests on this weretiger?  
"Okay, for one thing, you're right handed. And another, you barely pulled your arm back. Give it a real try." Siberia scowled, lashed her tail, and slammed her right fist into the punching pad with all her might. The machine flipped over backwards, skidding a good twelve feet back before coming to a stop against a brick wall. The battered meter had clicked up to 946.  
"Good enough," Pumyra sighed, noting the reading on the clipboard she carried.  
"What is going on out here?!" Panthro demanded, rushing down the stairs with Tygra right behind him.  
"The punching machine lost another fight with Siberia," Pumyra announced dryly.  
"Tygra!" Siberia squealed delightedly, throwing herself into his arms. The ThunderCat architect caught her, chuckling at his enthusiastic reception. They engaged in a deep, passionate kiss.  
"By the gods, I doubled the size and elasticity of the recoil spring and it's still been snapped in two!" Panthro cried, inspecting his mangled invention. "What do they make weretigers out of?"  
"I don't think she's listening," Pumyra commented. Siberia and Tygra were still busy kissing. WilyKit came tripping down the steps. She paused to make a face at the tiger couple, then came running up to Pumyra and Panthro.  
"Lynx-O says there's a distress signal coming in from another refugee ship. He wants you guys to come up to the control room as soon as you've got a minute," Kit announced.  
"We'll be right there, Kit," Panthro said. The female Thunderkitten grinned and raced back inside. The two ThunderCats started up the steps, pausing to give Tygra a nudge. He gave a vague wave that managed to convey he would be along in a minute. Chuckling, his teammates started down the hall towards the control room.  
"You know, I'm happy Tygra's found himself a mate, but those two need to come up for air sometime," Panthro announced.  
"Ooo, you used the 'm' word," Pumyra observed. "Are they talking about making it official?"  
"Tygra went and spoke to the Tiger Clan Council a few days ago. That sounds pretty serious to me."  
"Why would he need to talk to the Tiger Clan Council before he gets married?" Pumyra asked, looking puzzled.  
"Oh, that's right, you probably wouldn't know about this. Well, members of the nobility have to clear their choice of mates with the Council of their clan before they can tie the knot. Something about keeping the bloodlines pure or some nonsense."  
"You have to get permission? That sucks!" Pumyra declared.  
"Well, they don't want the clans to mix. They want to make sure the nobility doesn't start breeding hybrids."  
"But . . . the kittens are hybrids," Pumyra pointed out.  
"Yeah, well, it doesn't always work," Panthro muttered in a low voice. "Sometimes cubs get born whether you want them to or not." For a moment, his expression looked just a little bit . . .. wistful?  
"What was that look for?" Pumyra asked. Panthro quickly looked away.  
"Nothing," he muttered.  
"Why Panthro! Has your biological clock gone off?" Pumyra teased. The panther warrior looked quite serious.  
"I suppose there comes a time in every man's life when he asks himself: Who's going to shave his head when I die?" Pumyra snuck a look at Panthro's bald dome, mentally noted another fact about cultural differences and let him continue. "I know I've created all sorts of machines, but they're just machines. They won't remember. I would just like someone to carry on the Imara tribe when I'm gone."  
"Well, there are others in your tribe," Pumyra pointed out. "The tribe will go on, even if you don't have an heir." Panthro gave her a pained look.  
"Last year, the panther clan conducted a census of all the tribes to see who was back and who was still lost. There's only one member of the Imara tribe left; me."  
"Well, don't give up yet; there are still ships out there coming back," Pumyra said, trying to cheer him up. Panthro forced a smile.  
"You're right. Maybe this next ship will have another Imara tribe member on it." Looking back on this conversation, Panthro would remember it as a 'be careful what you wish for' situation.

If Sarken were the swearing sort, she would have been swearing at Pardus, Pyaber, Cabcoh, and Lusan as she made her way down to Laini's laboratory. Of all the stupid, prideful things to do! Pardus had actually given up and sent a distress signal to New Thundera rather than ask Laini. How stupid! Laini had become a ThunderCat solely because of her brains. Sarken knocked on the door to the laboratory. After a moment, it slid open on its own. The snow leopardess stuck her head through.  
"Hello?" she called softly  
"Back here," a female voice responded. Sarken followed the sound of the voice until she came upon her teammate. Laini of the panther clan didn't exactly stand out in a crowd. In fact, being as short as she was, she was usually practically invisible in a crowd. She was only about five feet tall, well formed without being shapely, and pretty without being beautiful. Her thick black hair was brushed straight back away from her face. It weaved its way back until the waves tightened into tight curls that hung about halfway down her shoulder blades. A small ornament consisting of a pink glass ball with gold bars on either side of it and smaller white glass balls on the outside of the bars was secured in her hairline in the middle of her forehead. Someone familiar with panther tribes would recognize this as proof of her membership in the Waridi tribe. Her uniform came halfway up her neck and clung to her like a second skin all the way to her toes. The leotard had long sleeves, black with a green stripe down the middle. The middle front and back were green and the sides were black. A wide green belt encircled her midsection, sporting the ThunderCat emblem in the front. A pair of bulky black boots encased her feet. A stainless steel band encircled her left forearm halfway to her elbow. On her right wrist was what appeared to be a very large watch with a steel band. A pair of steel-rimmed spectacles were perched on the end of her nose. For a genius with an immeasurable IQ, she sure didn't look like much. Currently, Laini was perched on a large red cushion that appeared to be floating in mid air. Closer inspection revealed four output ports and the soft hum of hover-engines. Before her, her computer was supported by similar means.  
"Laini?" Sarken called.  
"What can I do for you?" Laini asked without looking around.  
"Ah, well, that meteor shower we went through yesterday? It punctured one of our fuel tanks and we don't have enough to get to New Thundera now."  
"I wondered when someone was going to ask me about that," Laini announced, turning around and hopping off of her cushion. "I've already given it some thought and the fastest I can get us to New Thundera is three hours."  
"Three hours?!" Sarken echoed in disbelief. "Even with all our fuel, the trip was going to take us a week!"  
"That's because I didn't design this ship," Laini announced casually. "I'll save the day after I get back; first I have to go pick up Bahati from school." Sarken nodded weakly. Three hours? But first she had to pick up her little boy. That was perfectly understandable. "Bahati's doing so well," Laini announced proudly. "They've already skipped him ahead three grades. He's the only ten year old in the seventh grade. I guess he comes by it honest! If he could just control that temper of his, I'd be completely happy. Tell the others I'll be up to the cockpit in an hour or so." With that, she left the laboratory. Sarken sighed. Common sense told her it couldn't be done, but when Laini gave a timetable, she stuck by it to the minute. If the genius ThunderCat said they would be home in three hours, then they would be home in three hours.

The others made a show of protesting when Sarken told them about Laini's claim, but they were all secretly glad someone had managed to swallow their pride and ask the panther for help. Laini was smug and cocky and worst of all, she was always right. As a colony, they never would have made off of the planet they had been sheltering on if it hadn't been for the multitude of inventions Laini had created seemingly out of thin air. They all owed her their lives in one way or another. Laini didn't give any indication of realizing this fact or even caring. She was just infinitely proud of herself any time she came up with something new. As a result, everyone hated her guts. Oh, they smiled when she came around, played nice to her face and complimented her son, but everyone resented her to the core. No one loves a genius. In fact, the only thing they could feel superior about was her son, Bahati. Sure the kid was bright, well behaved, and possessed a warrior's instinct, but the manner of his conception was nothing short of pathetic.

"All right, I'm here. You can all stop worrying," Laini announced as she entered the cockpit. Bahati followed closely behind her. He was a handsome lad of average size for a ten-year-old boy of the panther clan. His thick black hair, a gift from his mother, was cropped short but still managed to spring up in a mess of curls. He was dressed simply in a green tunic belted at the waist with a black sash and black trousers. He looked like every other cub on board except for one thing: his eyes. There was a sharpness in his eyes that belied his scant ten years in this world. Bahati possessed his mother's intelligence, that was easy to see.  
"Now, this little fuel problem of yours," Laini began.  
"'Little fuel problem'? We don't have enough to get back to New Thundera! I'd hardly call that a 'little problem'!" Pardus protested. Laini sighed and shook her head.  
"Fuel isn't a problem. We have plenty of fuel; we just need to get it into the tanks and ignite it," the panther announced.  
"What are you babbling about?" Pyaber demanded. "What fuel?!"  
"Oxygen," Bahati announced. "It's very flammable. You want to use the oxygen on board, don't you, Mom?" The broad grin of an incredibly proud parent split Laini's face.  
"That's right, sweetie! Oh, you're just so smart!" She leaned in to give him a quick hug.  
"Mo-oo-om!" Only a ten year old can say 'mom' with three syllables.  
"The oxygen?" Lusan echoed. "What are we supposed to breathe?"  
"We'll put everyone in stasis pods," Laini said simply. "We can wear pressure suits and stay awake to pilot the ship."  
"Can I stay awake too, Mom?" Bahati asked.  
"No, you may not. You'll get in a stasis pod with everybody else."  
"Awww, Mom!"  
"Stasis pods and oxygen?" Pardus sighed. As hard as he tried, he couldn't think of a single reason why the plan wouldn't work. "All right. We'll give it a try."

On the back steps of the Lair on New Thundera, Tygra and Siberia pulled back from their passionate kiss and held each other for a few minutes.  
"Do you think they'll try to send me away?" Siberia asked quietly. Tygra squeezed her a little tighter.  
"I'm not going to let you go, Siberia," Tygra growled with passion. "Lion-O doesn't want to punish you for the deaths you caused. That's why he ordered these tests on you. If we can stall things long enough, we'll think of a way to keep you here." Siberia was silent for a second then burrowed her head against his shoulder.  
"You really think things will work out?" She whispered.  
"Of course," Tygra breathed, caressing her hair. "If the Tiger Clan Council approves our marriage, that will be one more reason to keep us together."  
"Just because we're married doesn't mean they won't separate us." Siberia pointed out.  
"We'll think of something else then. Don't worry, love," The ThunderCat architect gave his soon-to-be mate a kiss on the forehead and led her inside the Lair.

Cabcoh scanned the control panel before him.  
"That's it; the last stasis pod has just been activated. They're all sealed in," the puma announced.  
"The hole over the left fuel tank has been sealed. It's ready to go," Lusan called over her shoulder. Sitting in the captain's chair, Pardus nodded to himself.  
"All right. Everyone change to pressure suits," he commanded. The assembled ThunderCats reached for the bands on their right wrists. There was a chorus of quiet chirps and the groups clothing began to move of its own accord. Sleeves lengthened and segued seamlessly into gloves. Necklines closed up to seal into tight turtlenecks. When not an inch of bare skin showed below the neck, everyone seemed to swell nearly an inch as the fabric thickened and grew tough and hard to withstand the vacuum of space. Thick rings of metal erupted around everyone's shoulders and grew into pressure helmets. One after another, small hisses signaled that the suits had pressurized. The group adjusted their attire casually, as if everyone owned one set of clothes that could change from a pressure suit to everyday uniforms to beach attire. The SmartSuits were just one of Laini's inventions that had made life in space a hell of a lot easier. Thumbing a button on the outside of the neck seal, Pardus switched on his suitcom. "Everybody good to go?"  
"Good to go!" Cabcoh returned.  
"Good to go!" Lusan agreed.  
"Good to go!" Pyaber cried.  
"Good to go," Sarken said softly.  
"Good to go," Laini muttered distractedly. "All set to blow the airlock."  
"Let's do it," Pardus growled. Laini punched the airlock controls. System alarms began to wail as a stiff wind tugged at the assembled ThunderCats, sucking all of the air out of the ship and into the fuel tank. Laini punched a different button and the alarms stopped as the airlock sealed. An eerie stillness settled over the cockpit.  
"We're going to get underway with our remaining fuel before we ignite the oxygen," Laini announced, her voice tinny and distant through the suitcoms.  
"Make it happen, Laini," Pardus commanded. Laini nodded to herself and engaged the engines. The seated ThunderCats were pressed back into their seats as if by a giant hand. Laini poured on all the speed the remaining fuel would allow. Pyaber forced his head forward against the mounting Gs to look at their projected course.  
"Wait," he managed to croak, "We're heading in the wrong direction. We aren't headed towards Thundera!"  
"Of course not," Laini groaned, "We're headed there." With supreme effort, she managed to point to a position on the holo-map.  
"T-t-that's a st-t-t-tar!" Lusan wailed as the ship began to shake.  
"Exaa-a-a-a-a-ctly," Laini groaned through chattering teeth. "Now sh-sh-shut up, I n-n-n-need to concent-t-t-trate!" Ignoring the rattled cries of protest, the little panther steered the quaking ship ever closer to the star.  
"A-a-a-a-any c-c-c-loser and we won't be a-a-able to break f-f-free of the st-t-t-tar's gravit-t-t-tational pull!" Cabcoh bellowed. Laini ignored him, struggling to keep her eyes on the shaking control panel. According to her calculations, if they entered the star's gravity well at an angle of 37.25 degrees and ignited the oxygen 15.3 seconds later, the combination of thrust and pull should slingshot them out of the gravity well and throw them towards New Thundera. There was no time to explain this now, of course. She only had 3.2 seconds left until ignition. Two seconds, one second, NOW! Laini punched the ignition button. Deep down in the ravished fuel tanks, a remote device no bigger than a cigarette lighter popped open and gave off a tiny spark. Enormous jets of fire stabbed out of the ship's engines, throwing the vessel forward even as it curved around the star. At the far end of the curve, the star finally gave up its grip on the little ship, sending it careening through space as a sliver streak.

"Lion-O! We've got problems!" Cheetara cried, beckoning for the young lord from the door of the control room.  
"Cheetara! What is it?!" Inside the control room, the rest of the ThunderCats had gathered. They were staring resolutely at the large screen in front of the room. "What's going on?!"

"The distress signal from the ship that we detected earlier; it's headed this way!" Cheetara cried, pointing. One quarter of the screen was taken up with a star map, a red line through it tracing the course of the afflicted ship. Lion-O took in the screen, the course, and his teammates' expressions.  
"Isn't that good?" He asked uncertainly. Panthro turned around and pointed to the red line still stabbing towards New Thundera.  
"That's not a projected course, that's the ship. In real time." He announced. Lion-O took in the red streak.  
"But that's impossible. No colony ship can travel that fast."  
"It is a colony ship and it is going that fast. We've tried to hail them, but this is all we got." Panthro punched a button on the control panel. A shot of a recording came up beside the star map.  
"Hailing N-zzzzzzzzzzrrrrrrkkkkkkkk Colony ship-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzrrrrrrkkkkzzzz- ThunderCat Pardu-zzzzzzzzzzrrrkkkksssshhhh-damaged-zzzzzkkkshshshshkkkkkzzzz- crash land-kkkshshssshshhhhkkkzzzz-project-kkkshkk- Caverns of Col -kkkkzzzzzzzsssshhhhhkkk" The recording's video jumped and fell into static along with the audio. The few seconds of decent picture revealed a man of the leopard clan in a pressure suit.  
"The ship will be entering the atmosphere in 15 minutes!" Tygra cried.  
"We had better get out to the Caverns of Cold. Right now," Lion-O said quietly.

"We've started planet fall!" Lusan screamed into her suitcom. "Ten seconds until atmospheric re-entry! Five minutes until impact!" Pardus labored to stay conscious; Thunderans weren't built to take this many Gs for such a prolonged period. Pyaber slumped unconscious in his seat. Sarken was moving slightly but didn't appear to be coherent. Lusan and Cabcoh struggled to help Laini orientate the ship for re-entry.  
"Entering the atmosphere!" Cabcoh cried. The turbulence of the atmosphere hit the ship like a physical blow. Warning lights began to go off in the cockpit. With effort, Pardus managed to separate the warning lights from the lights flashing on and off behind his eyes.  
"The ship's breaking up!" He cried, terror making his voice rise.  
"We're going to have to sacrifice some hull integrity to make it through the atmosphere!" Laini called. "But on the bright side, that should slow us down enough that the ship won't explode on impact!"  
"On the bright side?!" Pardus echoed in disbelief. Before he could say more, the cockpit shook as the ship descended into another level of the atmosphere. The scream of tortured metal reached the ThunderCat's ears as the outer hull gave way. The phrase 'We're all gonna die!' lined up on his vocal chords, but he fought to keep from panicking in front of the others.  
'If I live through this, the first thing I'm going to do is strangle Laini,' Pardus thought to himself.

The falling ship cut a fiery streak across the sky. Lion-O, Panthro, Cheetara, and Tygra watched nervously as the disintegrating ship roared towards them. Lion-O and Panthro rode the ThunderClaw and HoverCat, respectively and Cheetara and Tygra circled slowly in the Whisker.  
"How many people are aboard this ship?" Lion-O asked, directing his question into the ThunderClaw's communicator.  
"According to the original distress call, around nine hundred," Tygra answered. Lion-O cursed under his breath. The thought of losing nine hundred people to a crashed ship weighed heavily on all their minds. The ship roared overhead, heading for the next ridge.  
"By the gods," Cheetara whispered. "They're not going to make it."

"By the gods!" Pyaber screamed. "We're not going to make it!"  
"We're too low!" Lusan agreed. "We need to drop some weight!"  
"Exactly how are we supposed to do that?!" Sarken screamed. Laini stared at the mountains looming close on the forward screen for a moment, then tore off the safety belt holding her in her seat.  
"Cabcoh! Sarken! To me! We're going outside to drop some weight!" The little panthress yelled, struggling back to an airlock. Cabcoh immediately followed her, but Sarken looked questioningly at Pardus.  
"You'd—you'd better go help them!" He sputtered. Normally he would have protested Laini ordering around her teammates, but he was fresh out of ideas. Sarken left her seat and stumbled after her teammates. She reached them just as Cabcoh succeeded in manhandling the mangled airlock open. The three Thunderians were immediately sucked out into the sky.

Lion-O and the others watched in horror as three bodies tumbled out of the ship.  
"Oh gods! Panthro!" The young king bellowed.  
"I'm on it!" Panthro yelled, gunning the HoverCat's engine and diving towards the falling Thunderians. Half-way there, he saw the ThunderCat emblem emblazoned across their pressure suits. The Panther Clan warrior already had the engines wide open, but he willed the vehicle to go faster. Then something odd happened. The smallest falling figure reached across and gripped its right wrist. The pressure suit seemed to erupt like it was made of liquid, then reshaped itself around the figure's slight frame. The figure—definitely a woman, Panthro could now see—was now clad in some type of green and black mecha-style armor. The woman twisted in the fall, revealing a metal pack on her back. Two hatches popped open on the sides and a pair of mylar wings the same general shape as a dragonfly's unfurled in the wind. The pack itself suddenly charged up and propelled the woman back up into the air like a jet. The other two figures had changed into hard suits as well and jetted up to join their compatriot.  
"What in the nine hells?" Panthro muttered as the trio zipped back towards the falling ship. Then his communicator crackled to life.  
"Sarken, get up to the front and cut off the nose cone, we don't need it anymore. Cabcoh, get up and cut off the starboard fuel tank, I'll cut off the port one. There should be enough fuel left in the lines to push the ship over that ridge." A confident feminine voice appeared to be overlapping his channel.  
"But Laini, how am I supposed to cut off the nose cone?!" A second voice, also female, cut in.  
"Lock onto the ship with your grapplers, then crank up the voltage on your laser and chop the damn thing off!" The first voice clarified. Panthro finally managed to get the HoverCat high enough to see what was going on. The ThunderCat charged with cutting off the nose cone wasn't visible, but the other two were. The dragonfly and her compatriot, a powerfully built male, extended their forearms. Little hatches shot up just behind the wrist and laser beams shot out of the apertures. The two began cutting away the fuel tanks. A movement on his left caught Panthro's eye. The Whisker was struggling to try to catch up with the ship.  
"They're going too fast! We can't help them!" Cheetara cried.  
"I think they're doing everything that can be done," Panthro said uncertainly, looking over at the Whisker.  
"Panthro, look out!" Lion-O yelled. The ThunderCat engineer looked back just into time to avoid being hit with a cast off fuel tank. He gritted his teeth and forced the HoverCat into a tight barrel roll to avoid being knocked out of the sky. No sooner had he leveled out than the other tank gave with a scream of tortured metal.  
"Laini!" A male voice cried over the overlapping channel. The nose cone dropped away in the landscape, but the other tank had gone early, taking the dragonfly with it. The small woman inside, presumably Laini, was slammed against the tank's hull with enough force to dent the metal. As the tank began to tumble away, the dragonfly followed it, her limp body and free fall alerting the others to her distress. Once freed of the extra weight, the ship managed to scrape over the ridge before slaloming in to a crash landing in the next valley. The two remaining figures eyed the falling ThunderCat, then powered up their jet packs and went to the crash site. Lion-O's jaw dropped in shock. Their teammate was obviously injured, but they didn't seem to even care! Those—those bastards! The young king pulled the ThunderClaw around and dove after the dragonfly. Panthro had already moved to catch her as she began to fall, but the injured ThunderCat was a good thousand feet below him and neither Lion-O nor Panthro was catching up fast enough.  
"Oh damn," Panthro growled. "Come on, dragonfly, don't die on us now!" 'Dragonfly' continued to drop like a stone, ignorant of the Panther Clan warrior's plea. Five thousand feet, four thousand feet, three thousand . . . gods, they wouldn't be able to catch her!  
"Panthro, pull up!" Lion-O ordered. "You'll crash, too!"  
"No! I won't let her die!" Panthro roared. At fifteen hundred feet, Laini's altimeter triggered an alarm on her SmartSuit and it automatically deployed an emergency parachute. Panthro had to swerve wide to avoid slamming into her as she went from terminal velocity to a gentle ten miles an hour. The ThunderCat engineer dropped another few dozen feet, then positioned himself under the unconscious parachutist and set the HoverCat to 'hover'. After a minute or so, Panthro caught her in his arms. Lion-O let out a deep breath of relief when he saw they were both safe.  
"Are you all right?" The young lord asked, maneuvering the ThunderClaw alongside the HoverCat and its passengers.  
"Except for my heart rate," Panthro answered. He inspected the hard suit covering the woman sprawled across his lap. "Now if I can just figure out how to crack this thing . . ."  
"I'm going with the others to the crash site," Lion-O announced. "Catch up to us when you can, Panthro."  
"I'll do that, Lion-O," Panthro answered, then turned his attention back to the woman in his lap. The parachute was starting to wind itself back into the metal pack on her back. Panthro carefully felt under the jawline of the helmet. There had to be a catch, or a strap or something. Towards the chin, something pricked his finger sharply. Panthro cursed and sucked at the digit. Something began to happen in the suit.  
"Blood analysis confirmed. Species: Thunderan." A digitized voice announced. It seemed to be coming from the ThunderCat insignia. "Hard suit . . . opening." The whole suit suddenly split along the front like an over-ripe fruit, making Panthro jump. The metal seemed to retract in on itself until it was collected in large shoulder-guards, a ring of armor around the pelvis, greaves, guards on the forearms, and the helmet. After another moment, the helmet retracted into the neckline, revealing the features of a female of the Panther Clan. Her nose and mouth were bloody, but other than that, she looked as if she were sleeping. Panthro reached for her face with his free hand, but a holograph suddenly popped up over her chest. It was a vague holograph of a woman's body. Circles began to pop up over the face and head.  
"Facial contusions detected. Damage to the enamel of the upper right bicuspid detected. External bleeding to facial contusions detected. Blunt impact to the brain resulting in unconciousness detected. Final analysis: injuries minor. No immediate medical attention needed." The digitial voice proclaimed. The holograph disappeared back into the ThunderCat insignia and a hatch on the belt popped open. A pair of spectacles were nestled safely inside. Panthro studied the woman in the mechanical armor. When nothing else seemed to happen, he patted her cheek lightly.  
"I guess you must be Laini," Panthro surmised. "Let's get you back to the others, what do you say?" He cranked up the engine on the HoverCat and zoomed off to join Lion-O and the others.

By the time Panthro had landed the craft alongside the ThunderClaw and Whisker, the other strangers were all assembled. Lion-O was speaking with them, trying to get some answers.  
"I am Lion-O, Lord of the ThunderCats. How did you come to crash your ship?" Pardus's eyes widened at the mention of Lion-O's title.  
"My Lord!" He cried, dropping quickly into a bow. "It was our understanding that the Royal Flagship was destroyed."  
"No, all of the ThunderCat Council are alive and well," Lion-O gestured to the other ThunderCats behind him. "These are the ThunderCats Cheetara and Tygra. Is anyone in your party injured?"  
"Well, Sarken and Cabcoh tell me we lost Laini somewhere over that last ridge." Pardus looked over the young lord's shoulder to where Panthro was landing with Laini sprawled across his lap. "Oh no, there she is." Lion-O followed his gaze. Tygra ran up to the two panthers to see if he could help the little female.  
"How is she, Panthro?" Lion-O called.  
"I _think_ she's okay," the engineer said uncertainly, handing Laini off to Tygra. The little female groaned and stirred as she was transferred from one warrior to another.  
"Did you say Panthro?" Pardus asked with sudden intensity.  
"Yes, my name is Panthro," the cat in question answered, approaching the group. "Why? Do I know you?" Pardus didn't answer, but leaned in and studied Panthro's face closely. After a few moments, a horrible, knowing grin twisted across the leopard's face. He turned and called out to the others.  
"Over here, everyone! Lord Lion-O and the ThunderCats Cheetara, Tygra and PANTHRO have come to rescue us!" The newcomers all perked up at Panthro's name. Pyaber, Cabcoh and Lusan approached the group gathered around the Thundertank. They both studied Panthro's features carefully.  
"Oh shit," Lusan muttered finally, biting back a grin. Cabcoh didn't comment, but he was fighting back a smile as well. Sarken staggered up to join them.  
"What's so funny?" she asked, catching her teammates' expressions.  
"This is ThunderCat Panthro," Pardus told her, pointing to the man in question. Sarken leaned forward and stared at Panthro for a while, then dropped her gaze and put a hand over her mouth. Even with half of her face covered, she looked amused, but feeling a bit guilty about it. Panthro had had enough.  
"What is so gods-damned funny?!" He roared.  
"Did you say ThunderCat Panthro?" A hesitant voice asked. Laini had come around and was joining the group on shaky legs. Tygra was beside her, ready to steady her if she slipped or had a relapse.  
"Yes!!!" Panthro bellowed. "I am ThunderCat Panthro! Now why are you all laughing?!?!?!" Laini pulled her glasses out of her belt pouch, slipped them on and stared at him. After a moment, something like recognition passed over her face. She put her hand over mouth. She didn't look like she wanted to laugh. She looked like she wanted to cry, to throw up, to drop off the face of the earth, but not like she wanted to laugh.  
"Oh gods," she whispered.  
"Go ahead, Laini," Pardus egged, grinning. "Tell him what's so funny."  
"Yeah, Laini," Lusan agreed. "I think you should tell him." Cabcoh appeared ready to speak, but he was interrupted.  
"Everyone shut up right now," Lion-O snapped. "I don't know what's going on, but it can wait. Where are all the people that were supposed to be on board this ship?!"  
"They're still aboard, Lord Lion-O," Pardus answered. "We put them all in stasis pods before the crash."  
"Fine. Let's get you six inside the 'tank," Lion-O turned to Tygra and Cheetara, his expression a few shades softer. "Tygra feed the ship's coordinates to the rescue teams. Tell them to come prepared to transport stasis pods. Cheetara," Lion-O glanced over at Laini, who had taken a few steps away from the group. "Could you make sure she's all right?"  
"Right, Lion-O," Tygra answered.  
"I'm on it," Cheetara announced. Panthro stood between the rest of the group and Laini, looking torn between asking her what the hell was going on as gently as possible or beating it out of the other newcomers. Cheetara slipped by him to Laini's side.  
"Are you all right?" The speedster asked the smaller woman.  
"I think I'm going to be sick," Laini whispered. With a groan, she buried her face in her hands. "How could this have happened? He was supposed to be dead."  
"Panthro? Panthro was supposed to be dead?" Cheetara asked. Laini was silent for a moment, her head still in her hands. Then she heaved a sigh.  
"I've just got to deal with it. I'm used to dealing with it. I can handle this, too," she announced, wiping her face of all emotion.  
"Um, what are you talking about?" Cheetara wanted to know. Laini turned to get into the Thundertank with the others.  
"Sister, is it ever a long story," the panther announced.

The ride back to the Lair was a tense, silent one. Laini sat in the back, across from Panthro. Occasionally she would look at him and rub her forehead. Panthro took the time to study the little panther woman. Did he know her? He hadn't ever seen her before, he was fairly certain on that point. Of course, she wasn't exactly unforgettable. Aside from being unusually short and slight, nothing really stood out about her at all. She had a triangular face and intense yellow eyes. There was a certain tension around her eyes, as if she spent a lot of time either frowning or distressed. Her skin was a dusky gray, lightening to a slate blue around her mouth and eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, Panthro caught sight of Pardus grinning at Laini's discomfort. The ThunderCat engineer glared daggers at the leopard, who realized he was being watched and quickly hid his amusement. What was so fucking funny about this woman's pain? Panthro felt like punching him in the mouth. Of course, about now, he felt like punching anyone in the mouth. Laini was looking at him again.  
"I . . . should apologize for this confusion, lord Panthro," she said quietly. "But I have a long story to tell and I think we should all be comfortable for it." She looked . . . beaten; like she had taken one too many punches from life. There was no inflection in her voice. She sounded dead.  
"Well . . . I suppose if you think that's best," Panthro said uncertainly. His first instinct was to rage and scream and threaten everyone around him with a thrashing they'd never forget if they didn't tell him what was going on right this second, but Laini's broken reaction was disarming his temper.  
"If you ask me--," Pardus began, humor thick in his voice. Panthro whirled on him.  
"When I want your fucking opinion, I'll beat it out of you!" He roared, voice deafening in the enclosed area.  
"Damn it, Panthro, calm down!" Lion-O bellowed, matching his elder's volume. "Save until we get back to the Lair! If you start swinging in this small a space we're all going to end up in the medical bay!" The angry panther bit back a sharp retort. His young lord had a point. Still fuming, Panthro dropped back into his seat, arms crossed tightly across his chest.  
"My apologies, lord Pa--," Pardus began again.  
"Don't push me, Sparky," Panthro snarled. Then his eyes fell on Laini. The small woman was pulled back tightly into her seat, eyes wide. She looked half frightened and half offended by his outburst. He felt an unexpected stab of guilt for scaring her. That Pardus was just pissing him off, though. Panthro growled to himself in frustration, crossing his arms across his chest and staring straight ahead. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Laini scooting away from him a few inches. He barely suppressed another growl.

"Look! They've got some new people with them!" WilyKit cried, leaning out of one of the Lair's many windows. Her brother shouldered his way into the window frame to look out. Below the twins, the Thundertank pulled into the Lair's courtyard, disgorging its passengers in the dim light of evening. WilyKat squinted down at the group.  
"Hey, they're all wearing ThunderCat insignia," he observed.  
"New ThunderCats!" The twins squealed in unison.  
"Somebody who's never even heard of our pranks," Kat mused.  
"Fresh meat!" Kit giggled. "Come on; let's go meet them!" The kittens thundered out of their room and down the stairs, giddy with the thought of new ThunderCats. They had just pounded into the informal meeting room the ThunderCats had taken to using for meeting newly arrived colony leaders when Panthro's voice reached them.  
"This had better be good, godsdamn it, or I'm breaking someone's godsdamn head open!" The panther's voice echoed down the hallway. WilyKat's eyes went wide.  
"Whoa, Panthro's _pissed_."  
"And Cheetara's not even telling him to watch his language because we might hear," Kit observed, going a bit pale. The twins exchanged a glance. If Panthro was angry enough that even Cheetara was staying out of his way, they didn't want to even be in the same building as him. Not even a fresh supply of hapless victims for their tricks was that appealing.  
"Maybe we should—," Kit began.  
"Yeah!" Kat agreed. Before they could head for a place of safety, the door banged open. With a squeak, Kit and Kat dove behind a couch. The mixed group of ThunderCats filed silently into the room.  
"Everybody sit down," Panthro growled, his voice lethal. The assembled warriors did as they were told. Even Lion-O, Cheetara and Tygra looked as if they would rather be in another room. Panthro stormed over and flopped down on the couch the kittens were hiding behind with enough force to cause it to rock backwards.  
"There; we're all comfortable, now if someone doesn't start talking in the next ten seconds . . ." he let the threat drift off. Laini, sitting across the room from Panthro, took a deep breath.  
"Well," she began in a voice so quiet it was hard for the kittens to hear her. "Our ship carries the genetic banks for the Panther and Leopard clans." At Lion-O's puzzled look, she explained further: "All of the clans have genetic banks for their bloodlines, both noble and common. They carry semen samples from most men and ovum from the women."  
"Yeah, I remember giving to the bank when I was eighteen. So?" Panthro prompted. Laini swallowed with effort and wiped her palms on her leggings.  
"I'm aware of your donation, Lord Panthro," she announced. "_Acutely_ aware," Laini repeated, giving him a meaningful look.  
"Oh?" Panthro said weakly, a horrible feeling roiling in the pit of his stomach. Laini stared back at her lap, leaving damp streaks on her leggings from her sweating palms.  
"We-we thought the Royal Flagship had been destroyed," she continued, eyes still downcast. "The ThunderCats were the finest our planet had to offer and you were all gone. We had your . . . genetic material, so I propagated your bloodline for you." The little panther woman executed a pre-emptive cringe and looked Panthro in the face. He stared back at her uncertainly. His gazed flicked to her stomach, then back to her face.  
"Oh." There was a moment of pregnant silence. "Oh," he repeated. A fine sheen of sweat broke out on Panthro's head. He looked back at Laini's stomach. "So—so when are you going to have the cub?" he asked nervously. Laini blinked.  
"I had the cub ten years ago," she announced. Panthro sank back into the couch cushions. Stunned would be too mild a word for his expression. "You have a son," Laini announced. The kittens thought they heard a sort of brief moan from the ThunderCat engineer, but it was probably too soft for anyone else to hear. Laini eyed Panthro uncertainly then threw a questioning glance to the other ThunderCats. The newcomers were desperately trying to hide their amusement and the other three originals looked only slightly less stunned than Panthro himself.  
"His name is Bahati," Laini offered. "He's very smart; they've already skipped him ahead three grades. He looks so much like you." The two kittens slowly straightened up behind the couch.  
"Wow, Panthro, you're a dad!" WilyKat cried in amazement. WilyKit eyed Panthro uneasily. The gruff warrior didn't seem all that thrilled about the sudden change in his paternal status.  
"Wow, a ten year old son? That's our age!" Kat continued, utterly oblivious to the tension in the room. "We could be your kids, Panthro!" A muscle in Panthro's eyelid twitched.  
"Kit, Kat, would you two mind leaving the room?" He asked in a voice that was way too calm.  
"Sure, Panthro," Kit said quickly, dragging her brother out the door behind her. The room was completely silent for a long moment.  
"Actually, would the rest of you mind leaving for a minute too?" The panther asked in a voice considerably less calm than he had used with the kittens. The assembled ThunderCats began to sidle gingerly around the engineer, trying not to make eye contact. Laini started to rise.  
"You stay," Panthro growled. Laini swallowed and eased back down into her seat.

"Lion-O, are you sure you should leave that little panther lady alone with Panthro?" Kit asked nervously as the other ThunderCats poured out into the hallway. "He was really mad."  
"Kit, I know Panthro was angry, but he won't hurt her," Lion-O assured her.  
"Well, maybe someone should stay outside the door. Just in case," Cheetara said quietly.  
"Cheetara! You don't honestly think Panthro would attack a woman half his size?" Tygra protested in shock.  
"It's not that! I know Panthro wouldn't hurt a woman. Not on purpose, anyway. I-I just get a feeling someone is going to get hurt," Cheetara said. Her warning was interrupted by a burst of hysterical laughter. A few yards down the hall the ThunderCat newcomers, sans Pyaber, were leaning against the walls, screaming with laughter.  
"Did you see the look on her face when she saw Panthro?! I thought she was going to throw up!" Lusan gasped in obvious delight.  
"Oh he was livid! I hope he tears her a new one!" Pardus giggled. Back down by the door, Lion-O's eyes narrowed dangerously and he clenched his fists until the knuckles were white.  
"Someone is about to get hurt all right," the young Lord growled. Without another word, he began stalking towards his countrymen. Seeing their liege lord coming towards them, the newcomers promptly bit back their laughter.  
"So . . . you think this whole situation is pretty entertaining, huh?" Lion-O asked. The group looked a tiny bit sheepish.  
"Well, my Lord, we have nothing against Lord Panthro, but--," Pardus began.  
"Who gave you the title of ThunderCat?" Lion-O interrupted.  
"Uh, well, when we emerged as warriors for our colony, the people began to call us ThunderCats, so we—,"  
"I see." There was an uncomfortable silence, which Pardus foolishly tried to fill in.  
"As-as I was saying, my Lord, we have nothing against Lord Panthro, but if you knew Laini like we do, you'd appreciate--,"  
"What I would appreciate is the four of you taking off the ThunderCat insignia and never putting it on again," Lion-O snapped. The four newcomers' jaws dropped.  
"B-but--," Pardus stammered.  
"Ever heard of the Code of Thundera? 'Truth, Justice, Honor and Loyalty.' The 'Loyalty' part means that you don't laugh at your teammate's pain. If you want to apply to train as ThunderCats, I have no problem with that, but judging from your behavior you've got a long way to go." With that, the Lord of the ThunderCats turned and strode back towards his own teammates.

Panthro stared at Laini. Laini stared back at Panthro. The ThunderCat engineer's knee was starting to twitch. The little female's eyes fell on the appendage. Panthro followed her gaze, stopped bouncing his knee, then got up and started to pace. After a few minutes of silent pacing, Laini tried to sneak a peek at the watch on her SmartSuit control. Panthro whirled.  
"Why?!" he demanded. Laini blinked at him.  
"Could you amplify that question just a tiny bit?" she inquired. Panthro prepared to yell the entire question and realized he had a whole lot of 'whys'.  
"We-- . . . wh-- . . . why would you want to have a cub if you aren't even married?!" He roared. Laini's hangdog expression disappeared, replaced by one of cool anger.  
"That's my business," she growled. Someone who was upset and on the edge of tears Panthro didn't know how to handle, but anger was well within his repertoire.  
"Why did you raid a sperm bank to get pregnant? What's the matter, couldn't you get a real man?!" Laini's eyes widened then narrowed dangerously.  
"Listen, jerk," she snarled, popping off of her chair and getting in Panthro's face. Or at least, attempting to get in Panthro's face. She probably would have been more intimidating if she came up past his collarbone. "I was trying to do your bloodline a favor! Judging by your charming personality, I'd say this is the only way you could father a cub!"  
"For your information, I've had lots of women!"  
"How many did you have to pay afterwards?" Laini asked coolly. Panthro clenched his fists.  
"I don't have to take this crap from some little tart who thought she'd take a shortcut into the nobility of the Panther clan!" He roared shaking his finger in her face. The finger was a mistake. Laini's eyes, yellow as poison, focused on the digit.  
"You wave that godsdamn finger in my face one more time and, by the gods, I'll bite the fucker off," she stated in a flat tone. Instead, Panthro leaned down and shoved his nose an inch from hers.  
"Don't give me orders, _little girl,_" he growled. Laini glared daggers at him.  
"I'm enough of an adult to have borne your cub," she reminded him. Panthro turned away from her before he did something he would have regretted. Laini folded her arms across her chest, a look of triumph on her face. "Of course, I only chose your bloodline because you were a ThunderCat. If I'd known you were just an asshole--," Laini's comment was cut short by Panthro unleashing a horrid snarl and hurling a chair across the room. Laini let out a small scream as the missile whistled by her head, hit the wall and shattered.  
"NOW YOU LISTEN TO ME--!!!" Panthro roared, starting towards her. Back literally to the wall, Laini let out a squeak of fear and flung her left arm out towards Panthro. The man in question thought he saw something fly towards him and that was the last thing he knew for a long time.

Lion-O flung open the door to the meeting room.  
"We heard a commotion! What's going . . . on?" Panthro lay in a crumpled heap in the middle of the floor, Laini leaning over him. The shattered remains of a chair lay against the wall.  
"What happened?!" Tygra demanded, pushing his way past Lion-O to the fallen panther's side.  
"We started arguing and he threw a chair at me, so I tasered his ass," Laini announced.  
"You did what to him?" Cheetara asked, coming in behind Lion-O.  
"I tasered him." The little panther woman held up her left arm. A small hatch just below her wrist opened in the steel band she wore. Two sharp steel points that looked for all the world like a pair of fangs emerged. They were mounted on tiny swinging arms that could project the tiny missiles outward with a snap of her wrist. The steel points trailed electrical wires that led back into the steel band. "These two points hit the target, which completes the electrical circuit and hits the target with a sharp jolt of electricity. It does no permanent damage, but it feels like getting struck by lightening." The ThunderCats all stared at the newcomer for a moment. Lion-O groaned and put his face in his hands.  
"I told you someone was going to get hurt," Cheetara said.  
"Miss Laini, how long is he going to be out?" the young Lord asked.  
"About twenty minutes or so."  
"It would probably be a good idea if you were nowhere near him when he wakes up. Why did you have to knock him out? Was he really trying to hit you?" He asked. The distress was evident in Laini's eyes.  
"He threw the chair right past my head and then he lunged at me. Look at the size of him; one punch would probably give me a concussion! I had to do something!" She cried. Lion-O groaned again and put his hands over his eyes. To a total stranger, one of Panthro's hissy fits could be pretty terrifying, especially to a tiny woman who was the direct cause of his anger. She probably had every right to interpret his actions as an attack.  
"Cheetara, why don't you show Miss Laini to one of the guest rooms for the night and we'll try to get everything straightened out in the morning?" Lion-O asked.  
"In the morning? But, my Lord, what about the rest of the colony?" Laini asked.  
"The rescue crews are still gathering stasis pods. They should all be taken care of by tomorrow afternoon. Don't worry; I'm sure your son is fine. Please, just try to get some rest," Lion-O said, escorting the two females to the door. Cheetara put her hand on Laini's shoulder and led her down the hall. When they were gone, Lion-O heaved a sigh and joined Tygra by Panthro's side.  
"Come on; we'd better get him to the medical bay." The tiger announced.

Panthro jerked awake. There was a weird charge running through his body, like someone had stuck his finger in a light socket while he was asleep.  
"Whuh-what the hell . . .?" he managed to groan.  
"So you're awake now?" Tygra's voice managed to punch through the jittery fog that encased his limbs.  
"Tygra? What the hell—I feel like I got struck by lightning . . ." A rueful chuckle reached his ears. Tygra placed a hand on Panthro's shoulder. The panther clan warrior jumped at the contact. It felt like every nerve on his skin was jumping and bouncing out of sheer high spirits. The place where Tygra was touching him was a bizarre contrast of steady, familiar touch.  
"Well, you weren't exactly struck by lightning," Tygra announced. "You did soak up a bit of an electrical current, though." Panthro risked opening his eyes. His vision remained unaffected, which was a bit of a relief. He was lying on a cot in the medical bay. The lights were shining brightly, but full dark had fallen outside the windows. Panthro sat up cautiously, inspecting his arms. With the visual reassurance that his skin wasn't jiggling like a bowlful of jumping beans the sensation quieted to a thrum.  
"What the hell happened to me?"  
"Well, you frightened Laini pretty badly with your temper tantrum. She thought you were going to attack her, so she beat you to the punch."  
"What did she do to me?"  
"She made use of a rather ingenious device she called a 'taser'. Evidently, it delivered enough of an electrical shock to put you under for about half an hour, but it doesn't do any permanent damage." Listening to this explanation with half an ear, Panthro inspected two tiny puncture wounds on his chest.  
"Why that little--," he began.  
"Put a sock in it, Panthro," Lion-O ordered from the doorway. Panthro started to protest again, but fell silent when he saw the look on the young Lord's face. Lion-O looked tired, weary almost, but there was a hardness in his eyes that disturbed his two friends. "I've had quite enough of your temper for one night. Miss Laini is in a very tight spot in this whole situation, but she has enough integrity to come forward and be totally open and honest and you respond by throwing a chair at her." Panthro looked abashed. "Honestly, Panthro, she's not much bigger than a ten-year-old cub herself. Were you trying to scare her to death?"  
"I—we got into a yelling contest. She may seem tiny and helpless, but she can be a real bitch when she wants to!" Panthro protested. If anything, the look in Lion-O's eyes got colder; it wasn't anger, it was more like disappointment with a little bit of hurt betrayal thrown in. Disappointment Panthro could understand, but the hurt betrayal had him baffled.  
"It's late; I'm going to bed now. I suggest you two get some rest as well; I've got a feeling tomorrow is going to be a very long day." Lion-O stepped back out into the hallway, rubbing his temples. The two elder ThunderCats watched him go.  
"Do you ever worry about Lion-O?" Tygra asked, an expression of mild anxiety on his face. Panthro rubbed at his bare skin, trying to will it to calm down.  
"I've got enough of my own worries right now, thanks."

After seeing Panthro off to bed, Tygra made his way back to his own chambers, still looking concerned. He was truly worried about Lion-O. The young Lion king took his duties as Lord of the ThunderCats very seriously. Tygra had suspected Lion-O considered himself responsible for even the behavior of the ThunderCats beneath him and that suspicion had been proved right tonight. First Lion-O had practically torn the heads off of the newcomers claiming to be ThunderCats as they laughed at the pain and suffering of others. Tygra had never seen his liege lord so angry outside of combat. Then Panthro had to frighten little Laini into attacking him. The disappointment and betrayal on Lion-O's face had really struck a nerve with Tygra. Both Tygra and Panthro had practically been father figures to Lion-O. His own father, Claudus, had been too busy with the Mutant Wars to really be a father to his own son. Tygra knew that as a cub, Lion-O had looked up to Panthro the most. He had wanted to be a strong, proud warrior like the engineer. To find out that Panthro's ferocious temper had driven him to terrorize a woman half his size must have been a wrench. In the back of his mind, Tygra had to wonder if Panthro would have hit Laini if she hadn't nailed him first. A headache starting behind his eyes, the architect slipped into his own quarters. All he wanted in the entire world was to fall into bed and forget everything existed for a good eight hours. At his bedroom door the angel sleeping in his bed stopped him cold. Siberia had left the bedside light on for him, which cast a soft yellow light across her features. She was curled up on her side in an almost child-like position, one hand by her mouth, her index finger resting on the tip of her nose, the other hand holding the blanket against her chest. The blanket cascaded over the side of the bed at a crazy angle, baring Siberia's back and the very tip of her tail. Tygra's heart swelled. He was sure everyone thought he was certifiably insane when he had declared his love of this were-tigress, but he couldn't help himself. She was just so happy to be around him. Her face lit up when he walked into a room. All she wanted was to be loved. And all he wanted was to love her. At least once a day he would have a moment like this one, where all he could do was stare at this golden goddess, hardly daring to believe she was his. Tygra shook himself free from his trance and began to disrobe. He climbed into bed behind Siberia carefully, lifting her tail out of harm's way so he could spoon up behind her. As an afterthought, he leaned backwards to turn off the lamp. Siberia yawned widely and stretched, rolling over and throwing her arm around him, hooking one leg over his and pillowing her head on his chest. Thoroughly satisfied with her new position, the tigress dropped off to sleep again. Sometimes these little gestures filled Tygra's heart so full of love he thought it would burst.  
'I wonder if any two people on this planet are as deeply in love as we are right now,' Tygra mused to himself. Siberia shifted in her sleep, cuddling ever closer to him. 'Gods, I sure hope so.'

Panthro thrashed around on his own bed like a fish out of water. The humming charge still ran through his muscles. There was no way he could fall asleep like this. With a growl, Panthro kicked off the covers and dressed in haste. He didn't know where he wanted to be right now, but it definitely wasn't here. As an afterthought, he grabbed a long cloak and threw it over his shoulders. He needed to walk, to think, to wander. Panthro headed out of the palace, totally ignoring the guards that snapped to attention as he passed. He headed down into the streets of Capitol City, taking no mind of where he was headed. These were strange days indeed. First Tygra lost his head over some were-tigress with a color mutation, then this little Laini bitch showed up with her ill-gotten offspring, then Lion-O had about bitten his head off over the fight he had with her. Panthro had the feeling his world was spiraling out of control. Shaking his head fitfully, he managed to clear his head of the evening's activities. After a moment of peace, an odd thought cropped up. Panthro wondered what his son was like. Laini had said the boy's name was Bahati. That was a good name; in the old panther tongue it meant 'good fortune'. After this night, Panthro would need all the good fortune he could get if he ever wanted to see the child. Laini had said that Bahati looked a great deal like him. Panthro wondered if the boy liked the same sorts of things he did. Was the boy constantly taking apart the household appliances to see how they worked? Panthro chuckled to himself. His own mother had nearly skinned him several times for his tendency to do that. Of course, at ten years old, Bahati would be a bit old for such antics. Well, considering some of the things the Thunderkittens got up to, maybe not. Did the boy have the makings of a warrior? Did he ever start fights? More importantly, did he win them? The street Panthro was walking on teed into the canal. The warrior walked until he was right on the edge, looking straight down into the water. He stared down at his reflection, mind blank. After a minute or so, he felt a pang. Damn it, he wanted to be a father! He had the complete kit for a family thrown into his lap and what did he do? Accuse Laini of using Bahati to jockey for a position in the nobility of the Panther Clan. Insult her ability to get a man. Call her a little girl. Throw a fucking chair at her head.  
"Fuck!" Panthro bellowed, "I'm such an asshole!" The few late-night walkers eyed him oddly and gave him an even wider berth. Growling at his own stupidity, Panthro whirled and took the path to his left. He had never been in this part of the city before. The sidewalk ran right alongside the canal, only about eight inches above water level. The level of the sidewalk was actually about ten feet lower than street level, creating a recessed river walk that was quite nice. Small local shops lined the walk. These shops were the bottom level of two and three story buildings built wall-to-wall. It was a very peaceful little place. Most of the shops were closed at this time of night, but a few bars and coffee shops still had their doors open. Panthro was tempted to find a bar and have a few beers, but he wanted to think some more.  
"What I could really use," he muttered to himself. "Is a crystal ball." Around the next bend of the river, a sign hanging off a shop caught his eye. 'Witch' the sign proclaimed in large, ornate letters. In smaller print beneath that was the words: 'Fortunes told, hexes lifted, charms available. Absolutely no curses. Spell casting by appointment only.'  
"You've got to be kidding me," Panthro muttered. Still, he was totally at a loss. What could it hurt, really? He opened the door and poked his head through. A shapely young lioness was sitting behind a cloth-draped table, upon which rested a large crystal ball. She was young, but obviously mature, anywhere between Lion-O's age and Tygra's, with vibrant red hair that cascaded down her shoulders and back in tumultuous curls. She was wearing a low-cut black cropped blouse, the sleeves of which came down past her wrists. Holes had been cut on the insides of the sleeves for her thumbs. She wore a pair of hip-hugger denim trousers and a durable pair of black leather boots with steel toes. Around her neck was a metal necklace with a metal claw hanging from it. Her facial markings were a tad odd for a lioness; most females of the Lion Clan had a lighter skin tone around their eyes, nose and mouth. This female had pale white coloring around her eyes only. The rest of her skin was a dusky tan, except for white on her forearms and hands. All in all, she didn't look very metaphysical. She had a newspaper spread out in front of her and was doing the crossword puzzle.

"Ah, excuse me?" Panthro asked. She looked up at him. Her amber eyes were half-closed, as if she had just tumbled out of bed. She was one hot little lioness. "Are you still open?" Panthro asked. She gave him a lazy, crooked grin.  
"I sure am," she announced. "Come on in, have a seat." The ThunderCat engineer did as he was told, fidgeting nervously. "So, what can I do for you, Lord Panthro?" The lioness asked. Panthro started visibly.  
"How do you know my name?!" He demanded. The lioness picked up her newspaper and held it out in front of her. Right next to the crossword puzzle was an article on new technology that had been brought back from alien worlds. Panthro was pictured next to the Thundertank. The caption clearly stated his name.  
"Oh." Well now he really felt like an ass.  
"So, what can I help you with this evening?" The lioness repeated.  
"You mean you don't know that already?" Panthro griped. One eyebrow arched over one amber eye. "Look sorry, I just had a really bad day. I don't even know what I'm doing here."  
"You know what I think?" The woman asked softly.  
"What?" Panthro growled.  
"I think you could use a beer," she announced. Panthro chuckled defeatedly.  
"Wow, you are psychic," he observed. The witch laughed deep in her throat and went to the back of the room. "I hope Dearmad Red is good, because that's all I've got." She pulled aside the curtain across the back wall, revealing a perfectly ordinary kitchen.  
"Sabertooth beer? That's hard to get in this area," Panthro announced, obviously impressed.  
"Only the best for me!" She called, disappearing into the recesses of the kitchen spaces. Panthro drummed his fingers on the table. She may have not been a fabulous psychic, but a decent beer and sympathetic ear were all Panthro really required. His eyes fell on the witch's discarded newspaper. For the first time he noticed she had been doing the crossword puzzle in pen. After a few moments, she was back with a beer in a frosted mug.  
"Ah, thank you, Miss . . . ?" She treated him to another lopsided grin.  
"Call me Red. Most people do."  
"Well, thanks for the beer, Red," Panthro said, lifting his glass to her. It was great beer. If the Sabertooth Clan knew how to do one thing right, it was brew beer.  
"So, tell me about this awful day you had," Red prompted. Taking another long draught, Panthro filled her in on the last twenty-four hours of his life. "Wow, that sucks," she announced. "Well, let's see what's in the cards for you." She started to take away the crystal ball.  
"Where are you going with that?" Panthro asked. Red hoisted the glass sphere in one hand.  
"This? It's a fishing float. To be perfectly honest, I really don't like using a crystal ball. Cards are my specialty." Panthro looked puzzled. So far Red's fortune-telling abilities didn't impress him. Red stashed the 'crystal ball' under the table and brought out a pack of Tarot cards. She gave them a few shuffles with all the expertise of a practiced con artist and placed them in front of Panthro.  
"Shuffle the cards while you think of your son," she instructed. Panthro did so. "All righty then." With quick fingers, the lioness laid the elaborately painted cards out in a precise pattern. "Hmmm. He's a very bright lad. Takes after his mother in that respect. The boy has a warrior's spirit. Does he favor you physically?" Red asked.  
"I've never met the kid before," Panthro said, shrugging.  
"I believe he resembles you a great deal. Physically and . . . . hmm, temper-wise as well. Do you know the boy's name? Does it have something to do with luck?" Panthro started.  
"Yes. His name is Bahati. It means good fortune in the old panther tongue." Red nodded with satisfaction. Panthro leaned forward. Maybe there was more to this fortune-telling mumbo jumbo than he thought.  
"He carries a lot of weight on his shoulders for such a young child. He's used to being the man of the house." Red leaned forward, studying a few of the cards intently. "I get the feeling that his mother is not very well liked," Red announced.  
"There's a shock," Panthro sneered.  
"He . . . protects his mother. He gets in a lot of fights over her. He's her . . . ," Red trailed off, frowning at the cards spread out before her. "Her reason for getting up in the morning. Her inspiration. Her shining star." Red chewed one fingernail, frowning. She quickly swept the spread back into the deck and thrust them at Panthro. "Shuffle them again," she ordered. "Only this time, concentrate on the boy's mother." Panthro took up the cards and began to mix them up.  
"I'm not really all that interested in Laini," he announced. "We got a bit of a personality conflict. I've only known her for two hours and the pint-sized little snot has already shocked me into unconsciousness—Oh, sorry!" This last was said as Panthro fumbled a shuffle and scattered cards across the table and floor. The ThunderCat engineer reached forward to sweep them up. Red's grew wide as she took in the Tarot cards scattered across the table.  
"Stop!" she roared. Panthro froze. The lioness witch's eyes were as large as saucers as she studied the scattered cards. "Sekhmet's mane . . ." Red whispered. "This has never happened before," she said quietly, getting up and digging around in a cabinet hidden underneath the table.  
"What? What is it?" Panthro asked. Red emerged from under the table with an instant camera.  
"The cards; they're in a spread," she announced, snapping a few photos. "And if you have a care about your son's happiness and well-being, you'll take an interest in his mother as well."  
"Why? Because my son can't be happy unless his parents are desperately in love?" Panthro sneered.  
"No, because someone is trying to kill his mother," Red said flatly.  
"What?!"  
"It's all right here: the Queen of Wands crossed by the Nine of Swords, with the Wheel of Fortune, Death, the Devil, and the Hierophant." At Panthro's blank look, the lioness sat down and composed herself. "Okay, I should explain step by step: the Queen of Wands represents your son's mother—."  
"Cut the crap," Panthro growled. Red blinked.  
"What?"  
"You honestly expect me to believe that I drop some cards on the table and this means someone's trying to kill Laini?"  
"But it's right here--." Panthro stood up quickly, throwing down the remaining cards.  
"I can't believe I even came in here in the first place! I'm leaving!" Even though he was absolutely certain the door hadn't locked behind him when he came in, Panthro couldn't get the handle to turn.  
"What the hell?!"  
"Sorry you came in here or not, you still have to pay me," Red growled. She held out one delicate ivory hand. "That will be twenty Thunder dollars."  
"The sign on the door said a reading was fifteen," Panthro protested.  
"I'm charging you for the beer. And for being an asshole." The captive ThunderCat snarled and thrust the money into her hand.  
"You want to unlock the door now?" He inquired.  
"It is unlocked," Red announced, casually counting her pay. Panthro glowered at her, then at the door, and tried the handle. It turned quite easily. Panthro tried shutting the door, then opening it again, just in case there was an automatic catch. Again, it opened quite easily. The panther warrior stared out across the darkened river then back at the lioness behind him.  
"There's more to being a witch than telling fortunes," she said smugly. "And don't slam the door, my kids are trying to sleep upstairs." Panthro barely resisted the urge to slam the door twice as hard, but it wasn't the cubs' fault their mother was an insufferable charlatan. Red let out a sigh after he had left and went back over to the table, still strewn with its glimpse of the future.  
"All's well that ends well, I guess," she murmured to herself. "Still, I don't envy this Laini woman."

The next day was brilliant, bright and sunny, the morning sunshine gleaming off of the lids of the nine hundred or so stasis capsules lined up on the desert floor on the outskirt of Capitol City. Lion-O whistled at the sight as he climbed out of the Thundertank.  
"Now that's impressive," the young Lord announced. Panthro, climbing out beside him, just grunted. He had a very poor night of sleep, and was in an even fouler mood than the situation would have called for.  
"Isn't it amazing how one can find can find beauty is such an odd sight? And don't the clouds look particularly fluffy today?" Tygra exclaimed, vaulting out of the 'tank. Wearing a grin so broad it practically wrapped around his head, the tiger stretched luxuriously. "What a wonderful day to be alive!" Lion-O chuckled to himself.  
"Siberia in the mood for love last night?" He inquired.  
"This morning, actually," Tygra clarified. Lion-O chuckled again and rolled his eyes.  
"Oh, you crazy kids," he joked. The site was already swarming with medical personnel, stasis technicians, and relocation workers. White tents had been set up nearby for the medical and relocation personnel. Several bright green buses sat ready to start transporting the new arrivals to temporary shelters in and around the city. Through all of the hustle and bustle, Lion-O caught sight of a small figure in black and green moving among the stasis pods and peering in the windows.  
"Miss Laini's here already." He murmured to himself. Panthro had wandered over for a technical report from the stasis technicians. Lion-O started towards the little panther woman. Before he was half way there, the other newcomers joined her.  
"Morning, Laini," Pardus growled. Laini looked up from the window of the stasis pod she was leaned over.  
"Oh, good morning guys." Her eyes flickered over her teammates, all dressed in civilian attire. "Why aren't you guys in uniform?"  
"Because, Laini, we have been stripped of the title of ThunderCats. Apparently we aren't good enough to defend our countrymen," Lusan growled bitterly.  
"Really?" Laini asked. Her eyes fell on the ThunderCat emblem on her belt. "Nobody told me," she said quietly.  
"Well, you'd better take it off; his Lordship is headed this way right now," Pardus announced. Laini looked over her shoulder. Lord Lion-O was headed right towards them, Tygra in tow.  
"Good morning, everyone," Lion-O said pleasantly.  
"Good morning, your Lordship," the newcomers growled reluctantly.  
"Lord Lion-O, I'm so sorry! No one told me you didn't want us wearing the ThunderCat emblem. I'll take it off right now," Laini blurted, reaching for her belt. Lion-O put his hand out quickly.  
"Oh no, Laini, it's all right. You can stay a ThunderCat," he assured her. In unison, the other five newcomers' jaws dropped.  
"What?!" Pardus roared. "You demoted us for laughing at her, but she gets to stay a ThunderCat?!" Lion-O glared at the leopard.  
"From what I've seen so far, Miss Laini has displayed nothing but integrity and honesty. I think she'd make a great addition to the team." Fire burned in Pardus's eyes.  
"As you wish, my Lord," he sneered, giving a small, mocking bow. Without another word he whirled and strode off towards the reception tents. The others began to follow him.  
"Wait!" Laini cried. The group paused and glared at her expectantly. "Um, can you guys help me look for Bahati?" she asked. They stared at her for a moment longer then continued their march back to the tents. Laini sighed, her shoulders sagging. The beaten, defeated look on her face was back again.  
"Bastards," Lion-O growled at the retreating group. Tygra laid a hand on Laini's shoulder.  
"Hey, don't be upset. We'll help you look for your son, right Lion-O?" the architect said soothingly.  
"Of course we'll help. Just let us know what he looks like--," the young Lord was cut off by Panthro bellowing his name from across the field. Turning, he saw the panther beckoning to him. "Well, it looks like Panthro needs something. I will come back and help though." Lion-O took his leave of them.  
"Well, don't worry; I'll still help. What does your son look like?" Tygra announced. Laini perked up slightly.  
"Bahati's about so tall," she held one hand near her chin. "He has short, curly hair and he's wearing a green tunic."  
"Great; I'll search this way and you search that way and if I find him, I'll yell for you, okay?"  
"Okay. Thank you, Lord Tygra." Tygra grinned and winked at her.  
"Hey, you're wearing the ThunderCat emblem, too. Just call me Tygra." Laini grinned back.  
"Thank you... Tygra."

The problem Lion-O had to straighten out was nothing much; just an order to open up a few more spaces in several of the shelters for the newcomers. Lion-O put one arm around Panthro's shoulders and led him away from the techies.  
"Laini is looking for her son now," he stated carefully.  
"She is?" Panthro asked, a worried look crossing his face.  
"Yes. Are you going to meet the boy?" Lion-O asked, voice carefully neutral. Panthro was silent for a moment.  
"Yeah," He said. "Of course I am. He's my son. I just wish I had some more time to prepare." Lion-O nodded.  
"That's perfectly understandable. I'm sure you two will get along fine. It's just. . ,"  
"What?"  
"Have you spoken to Laini since last night?"  
"No," Panthro growled. "Why?" Lion-O sighed.  
"I know you two got off on the wrong foot, but she's really sweet, Panthro. Maybe you could give her another chance?" Panthro started to snarl an answer in the negative, then remembered his realization of the night before. If he did want to be a father to his son, he had to at least be civil to the boy's mother.  
"Yeah. Maybe you're right. I just—what's Tygra's problem?"

Tygra waved frantically across the field of stasis pods, trying to attract someone's attention. He finally caught Panthro's eye a moment before Laini looked up, saw him and came running. Satisfied, Tygra ceased his wild gesticulation and looked back down at the pod at his feet. He might as well have been looking back in time. The panther cub inside looked so much like Panthro it was eerie. The only real difference was that Panthro didn't have curly hair when he was a cub. Laini came to halt beside Tygra and looked in at the cub.  
"That's him!" she cried. "That's my Bahati!" Laini knelt in front of the pod and started the opening sequence.  
"Maybe we should wait for the others before you do that," Tygra cautioned. Laini staunchly ignored him.  
"Laini!" Laini gave him a dark look.  
"My baby has been stuck in stasis for over 24 hours! I'm getting him out!" Panthro and Lion-O, trailed by a few technicians, reached them.  
"What's going on here?" Panthro stopped short when he saw the cub. "Is this him?" He asked, a strange tone to his voice. "Is this my son?"  
"This is him. This is my Bahati," Laini announced, clearly proud. A second later, the tiny panther woman growled in frustration. "How long does this stupid thing take to open?!" She demanded. The seal broke open with a hiss. The lid rose of its own accord and the much fussed over cub stirred. Laini didn't even wait for him to open his eyes. She leaned into the pod and patted his cheek gently. "Bahati? Bahati, love, are you okay?" The child opened his eyes. His eyes were a vivid yellow, just like his mother's.  
"Mom?" he said weakly. "Did we make it?" Laini grinned, helping her son into a sitting position.  
"We sure did, sweetie! We're on New Thundera! Oh, sweetie, I was so worried about you!" Laini hugged the boy tight, kissing his cheek.  
"Mo-oo-om!" Bahati cried in dismay. Lion-O grinned at this affectionate exchange. Then he snuck a peek at Panthro. The ThunderCat engineer was staring at his offspring with a strange, intense expression on his face. Lion-O had a hard time even categorizing the emotions warring on Panthro's face. Bahati slid out of the stasis pod, looking around with interest.  
"Maybe you should sit down for a little longer, Bahati," Laini said, concern etched on every line of her face.  
"I'm fine, Mom," he said with the ease of one well used to an overprotective mother. The boy looked around with awe.  
"Wow," he breathed, obviously impressed. "Hey, more ThunderCats! Wow!" Bahati stopped and took in the adults around him. "Why is everyone staring at me?" He demanded, scowling and crossing his arms across his chest. The boy's stance was so . . . so . . . so **Panthro**, Lion-O had to fight back laughter. Tygra was likewise biting his lip.  
"You're the first person to wake up, Bahati. We just want to make sure you're all right," Laini said smoothly. "In fact, these technicians probably want to get you checked out medically, right?" One of the med techs nodded.  
"That's right, ma'am. If you'd just come with us, young man." The medical technicians led Bahati away, followed closely by Laini. Panthro turned to Lion-O.  
"I'm—I'm going with them," he said quietly, the strange, intense look still on his face. He followed about twenty feet behind the smaller group. When the rest were gone, Lion-O and Tygra exchanged a look. They both burst into snorts of muffled laughter.  
"By the gods!" Tygra choked. "When that boy crossed his arms and stood like Panthro, I didn't think I could hold it!"  
"Me either," Lion-O chuckled. He sighed and sobered up, looking after the departing group. "Still, poor Panthro."

Bahati knew something was up. He wasn't at all surprised that his mother had found his pod first and awakened him before the rest. He was surprised that a team of new ThunderCats had been gathered around, staring intently at him. And he noticed that a large male panther was following him and his mom with a very strange look on his face. Now the warrior stood outside the medical tent, staring at Bahati as the boy got checked out. Bahati stared back at him. Why was the man looking at him so strangely? He looked distressed. Laini saw Bahati staring and followed his gaze to the man outside.  
"I'll be right back, sweetie," she said, going out and speaking with the stranger. The two talked in low tones, intense looks on both their faces. They stopped once and both looked back at Bahati. The cub growled to himself in frustration. What was going on?! The doctor laying a cold stethoscope against Bahati's bare back shocked him out of his reverie.  
"If you could just take a deep breath, young master," the doctor instructed. Bahati did as he was told.  
"Doctor? Who's that man talking to my mother?" he asked. The doctor, an older man of the Tiger clan, looked up briefly.  
"That's Lord Panthro, one of the original ThunderCats," he announced. Bahati was silent for a moment.  
"Are you certain that's who it is?" the boy asked in a quiet voice.  
"Quite certain. Why is it important?"  
"Because Panthro was my father's name," Bahati said in a very soft voice. "And he was one of the original ThunderCats." The boy grabbed his discarded shirt and headed for the ThunderCat pair. As he drew close to them, he could hear Panthro saying:  
"—yes, I want to meet him, but I'm just not sure how to do this." The warrior stopped short as he caught sight of Bahati. Laini turned around.  
"Bahati, is the doctor done with you already?" She asked. Bahati completely ignored her. Instead, he stared up at Panthro, a similar look of nervous distress on both of their faces.  
"You're Panthro of the original ThunderCats, right?" The boy asked. Laini visibly jumped, putting a hand over her mouth. Panthro swallowed with effort.  
"Yes," he croaked, mouth suddenly dry. "That's my name." Bahati looked down at his feet for a moment.  
"Are you my father?" he asked, voice cracking. Panthro stared down into those intense yellow eyes. He cast a quick look at Laini, who looked pretty distressed herself.  
"It would appear that I am," Panthro said. Bahati looked down at his feet again.  
"Oh, sweetie," Laini sighed, hugging Bahati tight. "I know this is a lot to handle, but this doesn't change anything! You're still the number one man in my life. You know you mean the world to me, baby. You're my shining star."  
_You're my shining star._ Panthro remembered the words of the lion witch the night before with a start. Holy shit, maybe there was more to fortune-telling mumbo-jumbo than he thought.  
"This doesn't change a thing, okay?" Laini continued. Bahati pulled back from her embrace.  
"Mom, my father is alive. This changes everything." Laini's face crumpled. Panthro felt the need to say something.  
"I'm not quite sure what to say," he announced. "Bahati, I know this is kind of shock; believe me, it's a shock for both of us, but I'd like to get to know you better. I'm a bit late in the game, but I'd like to be a father to you."  
"Really?" Bahati asked.  
"Yeah, really." The father and son smiled at each other shyly.  
"Awwww, that's so sweet." A familiar voice announced. Panthro looked over his shoulder, blushing furiously. Lion-O and Tygra grinned at him widely. "Who knew you were such a big softie, Panthro?" Tygra continued. Panthro blushed harder.  
"Can it, Stripes," he growled affectionately.

From the other side of the tent circle, Pardus shook his head.  
"Un-fucking-believable," he announced. "She robs the genetic bank of the Panther Clan and ends up with some nobleman's bastard, completely destroys the colony ship and tasers the father of her child at their first meeting, and yet she ends up with the ThunderCat title and her son is set for life because of his daddy."  
"If Laini fell in the dark, she'd come up with coal," Cabcoh agreed.  
"Laini has been very lucky," Sarken said in cold, flat tones. "We should be happy for her." Should, but she wasn't, that much was obvious.  
"She'll get what's coming to her," Pardus growled. "Count on it."


	3. Family of Strangers, Part 2

**Chapter III:**

**_Family of Strangers, Part 2_**

****

Nearly two weeks had passed since the colony ship carrying Bahati and Laini had dropped unceremoniously from the sky. Laini had moved into the Lair with her son and quickly set up shop rebuilding her laboratory. Lion-O was heading down to Laini's lab to see about getting the rest of the ThunderCats fitted out with SmartSuits when he crossed paths with Panthro. The Panther Clan warrior was dressed casually in civilian clothes; a slick gray shirt and gray slacks with a black jacket.  
"Panthro! You look . . . different. What's the occasion?" Lion-O asked. Panthro looked down at himself and grinned.  
"I'm taking Bahati into town today to show him the sights. You know, kind of a father-son bonding trip."  
"That's great. What are you two going to do?"  
"Well, I was going to give Bahati one of the traditional earrings worn by warriors of the Imara tribe, but his ears aren't pierced."  
"Neither are yours." Lion-O pointed out. Panthro grimaced.  
"I know; it's been so long since I've worn my tribal gear, my holes have closed over. So I thought we could go get our ears pierced together."  
"It's great that you two are bonding." They arrived at the door to Laini's quarters. Before they even had a chance to knock, the door flew open and Bahati stood grinning up at his father.  
"Hi, Panthro!" He cried. "Where are we going?!" Panthro grinned down at the boy but toned down his smile when Laini appeared behind Bahati.  
"Ah, it's a surprise," he said simply. Lion-O gave him a Look. He was taking Bahati to get his ears pierced and he hadn't asked Laini? Panthro was asking for trouble.  
"A surprise?" Laini echoed, eyeing Panthro suspiciously. "Well, just be careful," she said, ushering Bahati out the door. "And have fun."  
"I will, Mom!" The two started down the hall. Laini stared after them, chewing her lip. She wanted Bahati to have a good relationship with his father. Yes. She did. But . . . Bahati was the most precious thing in the world to her. She couldn't help feeling like she could lose him to his own father.

A few hours later, Panthro and Bahati rested on fountain in the middle of Capitol City's biggest merchant complex, each nursing an ice cream. Bahati took a break from chasing dribbles down his hand to admire his reflection in the fountain, turning his head so that the sunlight glinted off a pair of stainless steel stud earrings.  
"Mom's going to flip," he announced. "This is so great." Panthro chuckled to himself. A pair of stud earrings shaped like bolt heads pierced both of his earlobes.  
"Your mother does seem a little . . . overprotective," Panthro hazarded. Bahati snorted rudely.  
"If she could, I think she'd keep me in a bubble forever. She doesn't ever want me to do anything fun." Panthro patted his son on the shoulder.  
"Don't worry, I won't let her keep you in a bubble. We'll see about getting you into some martial art training while we're at it." Bahati stopped and stared at Panthro. "What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?" The man in question asked.  
"You're really going to go through with this, aren't you?" The lad asked.  
"Going to go through with what?"  
"Being a father." Panthro paused and thought for a minute.  
"This situation isn't our fault. I figure we may as well make the best of it. And besides," Panthro reached over to ruffle Bahati's hair affectionately. "Who could not want a great kid like you for a son?" Bahati laughed at this gesture. They both ate their ice cream in silence for a few minutes.  
"Panthro?"  
"Yeah?" Bahati suddenly took an intense interest in tearing the napkin on his ice cream cone into little pieces.  
"Um, do you think it would be all right if – if I called you 'Dad'?" he asked shyly. Panthro looked down at Bahati. The boy hazarded a peek up at him. He obviously thought he was pushing his luck.  
"Yeah . . . that would be fine, Bahati," he said quietly. "I'd like that." Bahati grinned.  
"You know, if you want Mom to agree to let me enter martial arts training, you'd better butter her up," he announced. Panthro looked down at him. He half expected that sentence to have a 'Dad' tacked onto the end. Apparently he would have to wait for it.  
"What makes you think she's going to protest?"  
"Are you kidding? The first time she lets me out with you I'm coming home with pierced ears. You'll be lucky if you ever see me again."  
"Well, what would you suggest?"  
"Mom's favorite flowers are daffodils," Bahati said innocently. Panthro eyed the boy, who became very intent on sucking the last bit of ice cream out of his cone. 'Mom's favorite flowers are daffodils', indeed. Panthro may not have been a lady-killer, but he knew the effect an unexpected bouquet of flowers had on a woman. Of course, his future relationship with Bahati could hinge on how bad Laini reacted to the earrings.  
"And what brought that subject up?" Panthro asked. Bahati affected an expression of pure innocence.  
"It just came to mind because that man over there is selling them." Bahati pointed. Panthro looked around to see a man of the Serval Clan hawking a wide variety of flowers from his cart. Sure enough, he had bouquets of several different varieties of daffodil. Panthro gave his son the eye.  
"You're a pretty sharp kid, you know that?" Bahati's mask of innocence never slipped.  
"I don't know what you're talking about, Dad."

Panthro was still muttering to himself when he brought Bahati home, a bouquet of bright yellow daffodils in one hand. The boy let himself in without knocking.  
"Mom! I'm ho-ome!" he bellowed just inside the door. There was no answer.  
"Maybe she went out for a little while," Panthro suggested. Bahati frowned.  
"She said she'd be here all day. MOM?! ARE YOU HOME?!" Panthro rubbed one ear.  
"Why don't we try looking for her instead of shouting the Lair down?" He asked.  
"Okay." Bahati muttered, wandering towards a door. Panthro chose a door in the opposite direction.  
"Mom?" Bahati's voice was faint and distant as Panthro investigated Laini's newly built lab. He had to admit, she had some marvelous machinery in this place. If they were on speaking terms, the chances were a lot better she might let him use some of this hardware. Good thing he had let Bahati talk him into buying the flowers. Panthro was just about ready to head back to the front door when something caught his eye in the very back room. It looked as if something had been written on a wall. Cautiously, he went back to investigate. Scrawled on the back wall were the words: The Imara tribe will die! The boy is next!! The paint looked almost like blood. A chill ran up Panthro's spine. Every nerve suddenly singing, Panthro crept closer. There were signs of a struggle all around. Another step closer and Panthro could see over a table that had blocked his view of the entire room.

"Oh gods," he choked. Laini was crumpled face down in the middle of the floor, a pool of blood spread out around her. Panthro's eyes flickered briefly to the threat painted on the wall. It wasn't paint it was blood; Laini's blood. Panthro kicked the table out of the way and rushed to the fallen panther's side. Dropping the flowers he still clutched in one hand, he gingerly felt through Laini's blood stained hair for a pulse. Her skin was cool to the touch, but he found a faint heartbeat.  
"Dad? I can't find Mom anywhere . . . ," Bahati's voice trailed off as he appeared in the doorway. The boy's intense yellow eyes grew round. "Mom?" he said weakly. Panthro rushed towards him, hustling him out into the main part of the laboratory.  
"Bahati, you've got to listen to me very carefully; run down to the medical bay and tell whoever's on duty that Laini needs emergency medical care. Can you do that for me?" Panthro asked, years of combat experience keeping his voice level and steady. Bahati's eyes were wide and brimming with tears.  
"Mom's still alive?!"  
"For the moment, but she needs medical care. Run to the medbay! Now! As fast as you can!" Panthro shoved the boy towards the door. Bahati ran as hard as he'd ever run before.

"You know, I swear it gets longer every time I look at it," Pumyra announced, inspecting Siberia's tail. Siberia giggled.  
"That's what I say to Tygra every night," she announced, winking at the man in question.  
"Siberia!" Tygra cried, blushing and grinning at the same time. Pumyra rolled her eyes and gave Siberia's tail a sharp tug.  
"Oh!"  
"I mean your tail, pervert," The puma healer announced. Siberia glared at her briefly, then appeared to think for a moment.  
"Well, I have to make a conscious effort to keep my tail at its shortest. I guess since I haven't been actively trying to keep it as short as possible, it's slowly relaxing bit by bit." Siberia flicked her tail out of Pumyra's grip and peered over her shoulder at the appendage. "Pretty soon it could be at its full length all the time."  
"Good," Tygra growled, putting his arms around Siberia. "That tail of yours is _so_ sexy. The longer it gets, the better." He leaned down to kiss her when the door burst open and Bahati rushed in on the verge of panic.  
"Bahati?" Tygra said.  
"What's the matter?!" Pumyra cried. Bahati sucked in a few deep breaths.  
"My Mom is hurt and she needs help and Panthro's there already and she's bleeding and she needs help right away!"

Nearly three hours had passed by the time Lion-O returned to Capitol City. By the time he rushed to Laini's quarters, the lab was cordoned off, Laini was in surgery in the medical bay, Bahati was struggling not to cry, and the rest of the ThunderCats were gathered in the front room. Lion-O entered the room and locked eyes with Cheetara.  
"What happened here?" he asked.  
"We're not sure. Panthro and Bahati came home and found Laini on the floor of her lab. Tygra and Pumyra have her in surgery right now. The attacker left a message on the wall of the room."  
"Yes, I was told about it." Lion-O looked over Cheetara's shoulder to where Bahati sat staring straight ahead, seemingly oblivious to everyone around him. He put a hand on the small of the cheetah's back and led her a tactful distance away. At the same time, he gestured for the others to join them. Lynx-O, Bengali, WileyKit and WileyKat joined them quickly. Panthro hesitated, not wanting to leave Bahati alone with Snarf. After a moment he joined his teammates anyway.  
"What do we know?" Lion-O asked when they were all together.  
"Quite little, I'm afraid," Lynx-O sighed. "The cameras in the hallways all experienced technical difficulty around the time of the attack. The guards saw nothing suspicious and Laini's laboratory is soundproof, so no one heard anything." Lion-O sighed, rubbing his forehead.  
"Do we have anything on the message?" he asked. There was an awkward silence. "Well, who would have known that Laini and Bahati belong to the Imara tribe?" the young lord asked.  
"Laini wasn't a member of the Imara tribe," Panthro growled.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Laini was a member of the Waridi tribe," the panther warrior specified. "I am a member of the Imara tribe. Since Bahati is my son, he's also a member of the Imara tribe." Lion-O nodded.  
"Who would have known this?" he asked. Panthro sighed and glared at the floor.  
"Laini and Bahati registered with the Panther Clan with the rest of their colony. The Panther Clan's genealogy records are public domain. Anyone could have walked into the Clan Council's building and looked it up." Lion-O bit back a curse. Another dead end!  
"Excuse me?" They all turned. Siberia stood in the doorway. "I just wanted to let you all know that Laini's going to be all right. Her injuries weren't that bad." Bahati breathed a huge sigh of relief and put his head in his hands. Siberia approached the assembled ThunderCats.  
"Siberia, can you tell us anything pertinent?" Lynx-O asked.  
"Laini was shot four times at close range with an old-fashioned firearm; the kind that shoots metal bullets. Her left arm was torn up pretty badly, but the other three bullets hit her ribcage. It would have been fatal, but she was wearing some sort of super thin body armor. All they had to deal with were the impact wounds."  
"Impact wounds?" Bengali echoed, a look of confusion on his face.  
"Yes. Say you were to nail someone in the chest with that hammer of yours. It wouldn't actually penetrate their skin, but it would break ribs and could possibly rupture something." Siberia explained. The golden weretigress cast a glance at the cordoned-off door. "Who's processing the scene?" she asked.  
"Processing the scene?" Lion-O echoed. "We already read the message."  
"Did you bother to read the scene?" She asked. This earned her another round of puzzled looks. "So no one has recorded anything? I'm sorry, did you actually want to catch the person who did this?" She asked sarcastically.  
"Siberia!" Cheetara cried in disapproval. Siberia shook her head.  
"Somebody get me a camera." She ordered, ripping aside the tape over the door.  
"Siberia!" Cheetara repeated as the tigress entered the lab. The ThunderCats exchanged a look. It wasn't as if any of them could physically stop her.  
"I believe we should get her a camera," Lynx-O announced.  
"Kit, Kat, go get a camera for Siberia," Lion-O ordered as the other ThunderCats began to file into the laboratory. Siberia was crouched by the bloodstain Laini had left on the floor.  
"Well, what does your 'reading' tell us?" Cheetara asked her. Siberia sighed and took in the whole room with a long, slow look.  
"Laini struggled with her attacker," she announced.  
"There's a revelation," Panthro growled. "Do you want to waste our time some more or are you ready to go back to being Tygra's resident piece of ass?" That gave Siberia pause. She appeared to hold her breath for a second, then straightened.  
"Tygra and Pumyra found blood and skin under Laini's nails. I've already convinced them to bag the samples for testing. Laini's attacker was someone she knew; someone who hated her. This was a sloppy job. It was a crime of passion, not of some rival tribe," Siberia gave the words on the wall a dismissive wave. "The Imara tribe thing is just a smokescreen. But look at how the word 'boy' is written. It's a bit larger than the other letters. I'd say the attacker really is planning on going after Bahati." The tigress paused and took in the wrecked room. "Whoever attacked Laini roughed her up before they subdued her. They must have really hated her." Siberia looked back down at the bloodstain on the floor. "Judging from the angle of the blood splatters, the person stood over her and fired execution style." She held one hand over the bloodstain, miming pulling a trigger. "But then they didn't bother to check and see if she was actually dead. So, they were enough of a warrior to subdue Laini, but not enough of a killer to make sure the job was finished. This person also knew that firing a laser inside the Lair would set off the alarms; that's why the old firearm was used. We're looking for a warrior who was in close contact with Laini, who knew her, who might have even been her friend, but had enough of a reason to hate her."  
"Like those false ThunderCats from her colony," Cheetara said quietly. "Lion-O, you stripped them of their titles, but you let Laini keep hers. They didn't like her to start with; that might have been enough to make them hate her."  
"How do you know all this, Siberia?" Lion-O asked, obviously impressed. Siberia gave him a solemn look.  
"I may have only recently become a killer myself, but I've been preying on predators my whole life," she said quietly. Then Siberia glared at Panthro. "And I'm much more than a great piece of ass, thank you very much." Panthro looked suitably abashed. The twins came in through the door, Kit carrying a camera. The liger cub tossed the camera to Siberia, who caught it without missing a beat.  
"Ah, thanks much." The tigress began to snap photos of the room. The ThunderCats backed out into the hallway, leaving her to her work.  
"One of the false ThunderCats, or a member of a rival tribe? Which lead should we follow, Lion-O?" Lynx-O asked.  
"Just to be on the safe side, we follow both. Cheetara, you, Bengali and Siberia should check out the false ThunderCats. Lynx-O, you and I will check the records of the Panther Clan and see who has accessed them recently. Panthro, you . . you—," Lion-O trailed off when he saw the look on Panthro's face.  
"I have to look after my son," the panther warrior said tersely.  
"Right; of course. Kit, Kat you two stay here and help Tygra, Pumyra, or Panthro however you can. All right?" There was a round of solemn nods. "Siberia, did you hear that?"  
"I heard," Siberia called from the doorway. Finishing with her pictures, Siberia paused to sniff the air. This lab was a myriad of strange scents. But there was one that could be attributed to a person besides Laini. It was a strange, muddled scent, as if it were trying to meld two scents together. Siberia filed the scent away for future reference and joined Cheetara and Bengali for their task.

"Now don't worry, snyarf, snyarf, Tygra and Pumyra are the best healers on New Thundera; they'll make sure Laini is just fine. Are you sure you wouldn't like to lie down? Or maybe have a good cry?" Bahati rested his head in his hands, trying to ignore Snarf. He had only a passing acquaintance with the Lord's old nursemaid, but he was starting to get very irritated with him. Snarf was worse than his Mom at her most suffocating. His Mom . . . Bahati bit his lip and tried to will back the tears that stung his eyes. Who would want to hurt his Mom? The ex-ThunderCats from their colony, maybe. None of them liked her at all, with the possible exception of Sarken. Sarken was at least civil to Laini. Bahati looked up sharply as someone laid a large but gentle hand on his shoulder. It was Panthro. It was his Dad, Bahati corrected himself. Panthro knelt down beside the boy.  
"Bahati, I think it would be best if you stayed with me for a few days, all right?" Panthro said quietly. Bahati nodded miserably. "Did Laini say anything about anyone coming to see her today?" Panthro asked. Bahati thought for a moment.  
"Just Lord Lion-O. He wants to get SmartSuits made for all the ThunderCats." Panthro nodded.  
"All right. Why don't you pack up a few things and we'll go to my quarters for a while, Okay?" Bahati nodded again and went to his room.

Siberia paused outside the interview room. All five of the pseudo ThunderCats from had been gathered to undergo questioning. So far, Siberia had sat through Lusan, Pyaber, and Cabcoh's interviews. The warriors had all tried to convince the two ThunderCats and the golden tigress that they had really liked Laini. They were all lying through their teeth, of course, but they were totally unaware of the attack on Laini. Siberia knew they weren't guilty; none of them matched the scent. Then Pardus was brought in. The large male leopard threw himself down sullenly in the chair provided for him and glared at the trio.  
"Look, I don't know what this is about, but I didn't do it. I've been pulling guard duty all night and I was asleep when the palace guard came to my door," He growled. Siberia stared at him intently. The scent . . . it was almost a match for the one she had detected in Laini's laboratory. Almost, but not quite. Maybe one half of the scent that had been in Laini's laboratory. Siberia slipped out of the room for a moment and beckoned to one of the guards.  
"Do you have the authority to search this man's residence?" she asked.  
"Yes, ma'am," the guard answered, looking slightly puzzled. "If you don't mind me asking, why do you think he's guilty?"  
"The nose knows," Siberia murmured, half to herself.  
"What?"  
"Never mind, just let me know if you find anything interesting, all right?"  
"Yes, ma'am." The guard left, taking a few others with him. Siberia slipped back into the interrogation room.  
"Laini?" Pardus said. "I can't stand her. She drives me straight up a wall. Why? Somebody try to beat some sense into her or something? Who should I thank?" Bengali's eyes narrowed dangerously.  
"You might want to take this a little more seriously," Cheetara said calmly. "Someone tried to kill Laini this morning." Pardus's sour expression turned to shock.  
"They did? Is she going to make it?" The leopard suddenly jumped, as if he now fully understood the situation. "I didn't do it! I mean, sure, I didn't like her, and . . . and said I was going to throttle her--," Pardus trailed off, a mournful look on his face. "I'm screwed, aren't I?"  
"Yep!" Bengali said cheerfully. Siberia nudged the white tiger disapprovingly.  
"Well, let's just say the evidence is not in your favor," Siberia took a slow, deep breath, trying to analyze Pardus's scent without being conspicuous. "Do you have a mate? A girlfriend, or someone else you're intimate with on a regular basis?" Siberia asked. Lovers sometimes shared scents. The golden tigress was starting to pick up Tygra's scent on her skin regularly. Pardus frowned.  
"Why? What kind of question is that?" The two ThunderCats gave her a puzzled look. Yeah, what kind of question was that?  
"I'm just asking in case you have someone who can vouch for your whereabouts when Laini was attacked, that's all," Siberia lied.  
"Oh," Pardus relaxed slightly. "Yes, in fact. Sarken, the snow leopard, and I live together. She was at work this morning while I was asleep, though." Siberia nodded. That explained the double scent, but there were still some gaping holes in the questioning.

"Bahati, I want you to just relax and consider this your home until Laini is ready to go home, Okay?" Panthro said, trying to sound as optimistic as possible. The boy nodded, taking in Panthro's sparsely decorated quarters silently. Tears hovered on the rim of the young boy's eyelids, but he was determined not to let them fall. Panthro sighed. He didn't know what to say. Words of comfort were not his specialty. Panthro led the boy to his bedroom.  
"You can sleep here until I get a cot set up for you. Um, you can put your things in the last two drawers of the dresser." Bahati nodded and obediently put his clothes in the assigned drawers. Panthro frowned. Bahati was a great kid, full of energy and bounce. It was really hurting Panthro to see the boy's fire extinguished. My son, Panthro corrected himself. The boy is my son. Panthro sat on the edge of his bed and gingerly rubbed the back of his neck.  
"You know, Bahati, if there's anything you want to say or to talk about, you can tell me." Bahati sat back on his heels, still facing the dresser.  
"I – I shouldn't have gone into town with you today," the lad announced in a broken whisper. Panthro stared. He couldn't have heard him right.  
"What? Why not?" Bahati was silent for a few minutes longer. His breathing was labored, but studiously even. He was crying, Panthro realized.  
"I should have stayed home to protect Mom," Bahati choked. Panthro was struck speechless.  
"Bahati, you're just a cub; there wasn't anything you could have done."  
"I could have done something!" A broken sob escaped Bahati's careful control. The boy choked, struggling to regain composure. "I-I could've distracted the guy for minute, or I could've gotten a look at him, or--,"  
"Bahati, if you had been there, the attacker would have tried to kill you both," Panthro said as gently as he knew how. "You weren't wearing body armor like your mom was. You would have died. And then how would Laini have felt when she got better?" The cub was silent for a minute.  
"I didn't think of that," he said quietly. Panthro got up off of the bed and knelt behind his son.  
"Laini will be fine. We'll catch her attacker, and things will be better, you'll see." Panthro chuckled low in his throat. "Besides, a cub your age shouldn't be trying to be his mother's protector," he announced, laying a hand on Bahati's shoulder. Bahati suddenly spun and threw Panthro's hand off of his shoulder.  
"No one else is going to!" He cried, looking Panthro in the eye for the first time. "Everyone hates my mom! She's never done anything to anyone! I'm all she's got!" Panthro drew back from his offspring's sudden outburst.  
"That's not true," Panthro said.  
"Yes it is!" Bahati cried, wiping at his streaming eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.  
"No, it's not," Panthro corrected, his tone growing stern. "Didn't you see all the ThunderCats coming together to help her? They all like her. And Lord Lion-O allowed Laini to stay a ThunderCat after he dismissed the rest from your colony because he likes her."  
"What about you?" Bahati asked sullenly.  
"Ah, me?" Panthro hesitated. "Well, I'm sure she's very nice once you get to know her." That was lame, Panthro had to admit, but it was the best he could come up with. Bahati glared at him.  
"See? You don't like her either. You, of all people!"  
"What do you mean? Why 'me, of all people'?" Panthro asked. Bahati looked down at the floor, tracing the pattern on the carpet with one finger. He mumbled something incoherent. "What?" Bahati took a slow, deep breath.  
"M-Mom used to tell me all sorts of stories about you," the boy whispered. "How you were the strongest, bravest warrior in the Panther Clan. About how you were kind to people less fortunate than you, too. Things like . . . how you once fought off a whole squad of Monkey Mutants during a battle." Panthro remembered that. He had been so panicked about being surrounded by Monkians that he had just kept fighting with a desperation born of fear. To his utter surprise, he had taken out a whole squad of Mutants. ". . . And how you once held up a collapsing building until everyone got out. She wanted me to see you as a hero. I think she started believing her own propaganda, though. Mom used to get this look on her face when she talked about you; like you were her hero, too. Now she actually gets to meet you and you hate her!" Bahati drove his claws into the carpet out of frustration. Panthro was torn between telling Bahati to let go of the carpet and complimenting him on the use of the word 'propaganda'. The panther Clan warrior laid a comforting hand on his son's shoulder.  
"Bahati, I don't hate Laini. We just got off on the wrong foot. I'm certain we'll grow to be friends. Now, come with me; I have an idea of what we can do to cheer you up."

"Oh hell," Siberia muttered, taking in the sight before her. The lion guard she had dispatched to Pardus's quarters held up a white hooded jacket, the front splattered with blood.  
"One of the saberdogs found it jammed into a hole in the brickwork at the back of the house," The guard reported. Siberia groaned and rubbed her face with her hands. The evidence was starting to pile up against Pardus, but he still displayed total ignorance of the attack. He could have been faking, but if he was, he was the best damn actor Siberia had ever seen.  
"Well, I think this clinches the case," Bengali said. "We'll arrest Pardus and start a full investigation of him right now." The white tiger rose and began the process. Siberia and Cheetara remained seated.  
"Tygra says you have a psychic gift," Siberia said. "What do you think?" Cheetara remained silent for a minute.  
"You know more about criminals than I do," Cheetara countered. "What do you think?"  
"I asked first," Siberia retorted. The tigress heaved a huge sigh. "This whole situation stinks."  
"Something just isn't right," Cheetara agreed. "There's still a very dark secret being hidden. I'd feel a lot better if I knew what it was."  
"You can't . . . I don't know, go into a trance or something?"  
"I could try," Cheetara said uncertainly. "Sometimes if I have to force it, nothing comes." Siberia laid her face in her hands.  
"Damn it," she growled under her breath. Out in the hallway, a sudden ruckus made the two female cats start.

"Pardus, how could you, how could you?!" a sweet feminine voice wailed. Siberia and Cheetara went to the door and peered out. Sarken the snow leopardess was sobbing hysterically, slapping at Pardus as the guards put him in chains.  
"But, Sarken, baby, I didn't!" Pardus protested, trying to shield himself from the blows.  
"I don't believe you! You killed Laini!!" Sarken wailed.  
"She's the real supportive sort," Cheetara muttered sarcastically. Siberia chuckled under her breath. The weretigress sniffed. The two leopards together completed the scent that had been in Laini's laboratory all right.  
"Laini's not dead!" Pardus cried. "And I didn't attack her! Baby, don't you believe me?!" Sarken stopped her assault abruptly.  
"Laini's not dead?" She sniffled sweetly. "Is she going to be okay?"  
"We're not sure yet," Cheetara admitted, coming forward. "But rest assured, we will get to the bottom of things." Sarken wiped at her streaming eyes.  
"That's sniff that's good to know," she whispered, smiling bravely.

"Bahati, this will be your first martial arts lesson! We have stretch first, though, Okay?" Panthro announced. Bahati nodded eagerly. He wasn't quite back up to his usual captive tornado self, but it was a great improvement. They had moved down into the Lair gym. Panthro had shed the spiked straps that usually adorned his shoulders; he didn't want to puncture his son on accident. Bahati had stripped off his shirt and stood before his father in just his loose black trousers and black sash.  
"I know all about stretching!" Bahati announced eagerly, and then did the splits. Panthro's brows rose. That was straight down, all the way down, both legs perpendicular to the trunk of his body. Damn, Panthro himself couldn't do it that easily. Bahati twisted and then stretched out over his right leg. More accurately, he laid his chest flat against his own thigh and wrapped his hands around his right foot.  
"Ah, Bahati? Where did you learn your stretching techniques from?" Panthro asked as the boy twisted and pulled himself through one stretch after another.  
"Mom taught me," Bahati said, a bit on the quiet side. "She doesn't want me to learn to fight, but she taught me all about yoga and tumbling."  
"Yoga? Tumbling?" Panthro echoed.  
"Yeah. I'm really good; watch!" Bahati got onto the mats, backed up a little way, then ran forward and launched himself into a series of cartwheels, a few round offs, then what must have been a dozen back handsprings in a row. He landed neatly on his feet, then held his arms out proudly. "Ta-da!" Applause made both panthers look around. WileyKit and WileyKat were standing in the doorway. Kit was clapping loudly, a wide grin on her face. Kat looked considerably less enthused, but he was applauding as well. Bahati grinned and repeated his performance, ending up at his father's feet. Panthro smiled.  
"You're right, you are really good. When you learn to fight, that ability will come in handy."  
"Yeah," Bahati said uncertainly. "I don't know . . . Mom really doesn't want me to fight. Maybe I should be a tumbler."  
"A tumbler?!" Panthro barely managed not to yell the words. "Bahati, listen to me very carefully. Tumbling is a **girl** sport. No son of mine is going to be a tumbler."  
"That's not right, Panthro!" Kit cried, approaching the pair with her brother in tow. "Boys and girls can be whatever they want, you know!" She chastised him, giggling the whole while.  
"Don't listen to her," Panthro told his son, giving him a lopsided grin. Bahati didn't return the expression.  
"Tumbling is a girl sport?" He repeated. "I've been tumbling ever since I could walk."  
"Don't get me wrong, it takes a lot of work and it's a very good base to start martial arts training, but it shouldn't be all you know," Panthro explained.  
"Panthro, that's chauvanist!" Kit cried. Kat nodded his agreement.  
"Kit's right. For once," he brother said quietly. Bahati appeared to be digesting all of this. He turned to his father with a calculating look.  
"How do you feel about yoga and contortion?" He asked. Panthro gave his son a quizzical look.  
"Contortion?" He echoed.  
"Yeah! Something like . . . well, something like this," Bahati took a few steps away and did a handstand. He stayed in that position for a second, then slowly began to arch his spine backwards. His back going into a tighter and tighter curve, Bahati finally stopped and curled his feet back towards his head. They were just level with his ears.  
"This is as far as I can go on this one," the boy panted. "Mom can touch her toes under her chin." Panthro found himself waiting for the crack of Bahati's spine snapping in two.  
"Stop doing that!" he cried in dismay. "You'll break something!" Bahati laughed and flipped easily back upright.  
"Wow, that was cool! Can you teach me how to do that?" Kit asked eagerly.  
"I guess so. It takes a lot of practice to be this flexible, though."  
"Your mother taught you that?" Panthro asked. Then another thought crossed his mind. "She can touch her toes under her chin? What else can she do?"  
"Well, she can do lots of stuff. She can put her feet behind her head. Um, she can practically fold herself in half!" Bahati laughed.  
"Really?" Panthro had never had a woman quite that flexible; maybe it was worth getting to know Laini better after all. Kat had wandered back towards the doors to the gym and had taken out his communicator.  
"Hey guys!" he called. "Laini is out of surgery! Tygra wants us to come up to the medical bay now."

Back in Laini's laboratory, Snarf was just finishing the clean up. The sooner he could get out of here, the better. Snarf didn't like messing around down in Panthro's garage, but compared to this place it was as cozy as a snarf nest. Strange things bubbling in tubes sat side by side with, and in some cases were nestled in, high-tech looking machinery that could probably tear an unwary snarf in half. Snarf could have sworn something was moving around in the shadows, watching him. By the Great Snarf, this place was creepy. Snarf quickly gathered his cleaning supplies and got ready to rush out the door when something lying against the wall caught his eye. A bouquet of bright yellow daffodils had been tossed carelessly aside. What was a bouquet of flowers doing here? By the position, it looked like someone standing in the doorway had thrown them aside. Oh wait, Panthro had found Laini, hadn't he? Had he brought her flowers? Oh, that was so sweet! Snarf knew Panthro had a soft side, deep down. The ex-nursemaid carefully gathered up the daffodils and carried them out. He knew he had a nice vase somewhere; Laini would love a fresh bouquet by her bedside when she awoke.

Tygra walked into the main room of the medical lab where Panthro, Bahati, and the kittens waited. The tiger had stripped off his gloves and mask, but still wore the long white healers' gown. Panthro couldn't help noticing there were bloodstains on the sleeves.  
"Pumyra's finishing up with Laini now," Tygra announced. "She'll be unconscious for about another hour at least, but you can go in and see her in a few minutes."  
"How is she, Tygra?" Panthro asked.  
"She's doing really well," he answered, smiling. "She won't be able to use her left arm for a while, but everything else looks really good. Her back is very badly bruised, but we've stopped the sub-dermal bleeding. She should be just fine." Bahati let out a relieved breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.  
"Apparently, she was wearing some sort of super-thin body armor," Tygra continued.  
"Yeah, that was the Armorcloth," Bahati said quietly. "Mom was trying to figure out how to integrate it into the SmartSuits and make it keep its structural matrix at the same time. I guess she figured out a way." For a moment, tears hovered on the edge of the young cub's lids, but he quickly blinked them away.  
"Bahati, it's all right," Panthro said softly, laying a hand on his son's shoulder. Bahati smiled gratefully up at his father. Kit grinned to herself and stepped a shade closer to Bahati. She looked shyly at the young panther with a blush on her cheeks. WilyKat stared at the three of them then shook his head in disbelief. Unnoticed, the liger cub slipped out of the door.

"I swear on the Eye, I'm not guilty! I never laid a hand on Laini!" Pardus wailed, sitting in a cell. The cellblock door opened and within a few moments, the King of Thundera stood before his cell. The leopard quieted. Cheetara, Lynx-O, Bengali, and Siberia appeared behind their liege lord.  
"Are you willing to do that?" Lion-O asked quietly. Pardus looked confused.  
"Willing to do what, my lord?" Lion-O drew the Sword of Omens from the Claw Shield and held it out to Pardus, hilt first.  
"Swear on the Eye," Lion-O clarified. Pardus hesitated. The tense, angry, and slightly disappointed look on Lion-O's face almost made him doubt his own innocence. The leopard warrior reached out and gripped the hilt of the mystic sword.  
"I swear on my honor and on the Eye, I never tried to kill Laini," he stated somberly. The Sword of Omens stayed quiet, with just a barely audible background hum and the faintest benevolent glow emanating from the Eye.  
"He speaks the truth," Lion-O announced. "Lynx-O, let him out of there."  
"Lion-O, are you sure?" Cheetara asked. "Maybe we should keep him in custody until we catch the real attacker."  
"I agree with Cheetara," Siberia announced quietly. Lion-O gave them both a startled look.  
"You doubt the Eye of Thundera?"  
"Well--," Cheetara began uncertainly.  
"It's not that," Siberia interrupted. "Someone went to an awful lot of trouble to make us think Pardus was the one trying to kill Laini. If we let him out, then the real attacker will know that we didn't buy it. As long as the perpetrator thinks we're concentrating on Pardus, they'll feel comfortable enough to act again. We can catch them when they go after Bahati."  
"Yeah; what she said," Cheetara quickly agreed. There was a moment of silence as all present digested this information.  
"It sounds like a wise idea to me, Lion-O," Lynx-O said.  
"Rawr, I think so, too," Bengali announced. Lion-O turned to Pardus.  
"Are you willing to stay here for a while longer?" he asked the captive leopard.  
"If it will help catch Laini's attacker," Pardus assented quietly, leaning against the bars. Lion-O smiled at Pardus.  
"It seems I misjudged you. Thank you for your help," the young king said quietly.  
"Just because I don't like Laini doesn't mean I want her dead. If this will help bring the person who attacked her to justice, I can stand it."  
"Maybe you're not such a bastard after all," Lion-O conceded, grinning widely. "I take back what I said about you." Pardus started to return the king's grin, then frowned.  
"You called me a bastard?" he asked in disbelief.  
"Ah, anyway! Siberia, what is our next move?" Lion-O quickly changed the subject. Lynx-O chuckled to himself.

Laini's eyes fluttered open with difficultly. She was somewhere she didn't recognize, and she was lying on her stomach. Everything else was lost in a fuzzy pink haze.  
"Laini? Laini, can you hear me?" Laini managed to focus on the large male tiger crouching next to her bed. "Laini, how do you feel?" Tygra asked.  
"Uuuhhhnn . . . . pink," she answered after a moment.  
"Ah, okay . . . ," Tygra said uncertainly. "I guess we'll have to wait until your pain meds wear off a little before we can get any answers."  
"The answer is 42," Laini told him solemnly. Tygra gave her a puzzled frown.  
"The answer to what is 42?"  
"Everything." The panthress whispered.  
"Ok-ay," Tygra conceded. "Bahati wants to see you, if you're feeling up to it."  
"Who?" Laini's lids had fallen almost closed again; only thin slits of yellow showed through her thick lashes.  
"Bahati? Your son?" Tygra prompted.  
"Oh right; sure, send her in." The little panther woman mumbled. Tygra fought back a laugh, but left the room. Panthro and Bahati were standing just outside in the main area of the medbay. Pumyra was relaxing on one of the chairs, unwinding after the surgery with a hot cup of tea. WileyKit was standing near the puma healer.  
"We've got Laini's pain medication dialed up a little high," he told Pumyra. Then he turned to Bahati and Panthro. "You two can go in to see her now, but she's feeling a little loopy. She might fall asleep again." Panthro looked down at Bahati, who nodded. He wanted to see his mother, loopy or not. The two panthers stepped into the recovery room. It was small, but comfortably furnished. Laini was lying on her stomach on a bed, a few monitors hooked to her wrist. A small green screen in one of the accompanying machines blipped out a steady rhythm as it monitored her heartbeat. The lights had been dimmed down and the curtains drawn. Laini was lying with her head turned towards the window.  
"Mom?" Bahati asked, creeping around the bed. The little panther woman stirred. "Mom? It's me, Bahati." The cub approached his mother, leaning down until he was right next to her face.  
"Bahati?" Laini's canary yellow eyes fluttered open. "Is that you? I can't see very well; it's kind of dark. . . . "  
"I'll open the curtains a little," Panthro told the pair. Had he been less stressed over the current situation, Panthro might have found it odd that Laini attributed the difficultly to see to darkness rather than the fact that her glasses were missing. Laini squinted as the ThunderCat warrior let in more light.  
"Oh, hi sweetie," she cooed when Bahati's features were illuminated. "Why the long face? Who die--," Laini's joke was cut off sharply. The rate of the heart monitor suddenly increased. A look of intense fear wracked Laini's face.  
"Mom?! What's wrong? What is it?" Bahati asked with alarm. His mother was staring past him to Panthro. Turning, Bahati looked back at his father. With the open window behind him, all that could be seen was a large male silhouette.  
"I'm sorry," Laini whispered in a tiny voice. "I'm sorry!" She buried her face in the pillow and began to tremble.  
"Mom?!"  
"Laini?! What's the matter?" Panthro asked, coming towards her. Once he was away from the window, his features could be distinguished once again. Laini hazarded peeking out from the pillow and sighed with relief.  
"Panthro . . ." she breathed in obvious relief. "I-I thought . . ." Tears welled up in her eyes and began to spill down her cheeks.  
"Mom?" Tears formed in Bahati's eyes as well. Panthro felt an overwhelming urge to find whatever was hurting his family and kill it slowly and painfully. He already owed somebody a beating, preferably to death, for wounding Laini. Unfortunately, a pummeling couldn't defuse the current situation. Panthro rubbed Bahati's back comfortingly then sat beside Laini. Leaning in close to her, the Panther Clan's greatest warrior did his best to wipe her tears away.  
"Laini, please don't cry. Whoever hurt you; I won't let them do it again. I swear it!" Laini looked up at him hopefully, but shrank back as he fiercely growled the last sentence. Damn it, he had frightened her again. She was such a teeny, tiny little thing and she frightened so easily. Panthro normally had nothing but exasperation for timid people, but Laini's fear was eliciting a new emotion from him: protectiveness.  
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to frighten you. Please don't be afraid of me, Laini. I promise I'll protect you." Laini stared at him, eyes wavering in and out of focus as the adrenalin rush from her scare left her and the anesthetic kicked in again.  
"I . . . don't leave me in the dark," she pleaded. Don't leave her in the dark? Panthro gave Bahati a questioning look, but his son looked just as confused as he felt.  
"Uh, don't worry, Laini," Panthro said in what he hoped was a soothing tone. He pulled a stray lock of hair away from her face. "Bahati and I are right here. We won't leave you." Bahati came over to Panthro and, after a moment's hesitation, crawled into his lap. Laini regarded the pair from under heavily lidded eyes and smiled slightly to herself. After a few moments, her eyes drifted close. The rhythm of her breathing grew slow and steady. Panthro hugged his son tightly.  
"Come on, Bahati, let's let your Mom get some sleep," he announced.  
"Dad, can we come back later? After dinner, maybe?" Bahati asked.  
"Sure, Bahati, after dinner."

It was nearly midnight. As promised, Panthro had returned with Bahati after dinner. Laini had slept through the entire visit, but Bahati had coaxed him to stay, pointing out quite correctly that they had promised not to leave Laini alone in the dark. Being nighttime, it certainly counted as dark, so they should stay in case Laini woke up during the night. Tygra and Panthro had dragged in a loveseat from the lounge area and shoved it into a corner. Panthro had his chin resting in one hand, elbow on the armrest as he dozed. Bahati was curled up on the other half of the couch, his head resting in his father's lap. The only illumination in the room was a small lamp by Laini's bed. United by an unknown danger, this family of strangers slept fitfully.

In another part of Cats' Lair, Cheetara wandered into the kitchen. Trying to sleep was pointless; maybe a midnight snack would help relax her.  
"I've already got milk and cookies if you want some," a mellow voice offered. Cheetara whirled, staring into the darkness with wide eyes. She could just barely make out Siberia sitting at the table with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk.  
"You nearly scared the spots off of me!" The speedster declared.  
"Sorry," the golden tigress said. "You couldn't sleep either, huh?"  
"No," Cheetara sighed, flipping on the lights and getting a glass out of the cabinet. As the lights came back on, Siberia's irises suddenly retracted from filling her entire eye to the normal size. The cheetah paused for a moment before she sat down. "That is so creepy."  
"I just didn't want to bother anybody else by turning on the lights," Siberia announced with a rueful grin. "I keep thinking there's something I'm missing."  
"I know what you mean," Cheetara sighed, pouring herself some milk. "Where's Tygra?"  
"Snoring like a chainsaw," Siberia declared with a grin. "He and Pumyra spent four hours in surgery today; I imagine both of them are sleeping like logs."  
"Well, I'm certainly envious. They're probably the only people in the Lair that are sleeping well tonight."

Panthro jerked as his chin began to slide off of his hand. Yawning, the weary panther looked over at Laini, who was still sleeping like . . . well, sleeping like someone who was heavily medicated. Lucky. Bahati was still snoozing; in fact, he had begun to drool on Panthro's leg. At least someone was getting some rest around here. Panthro put his chin back in his hand, ready for another attempt at something resembling sleep. A minute later, the panther warrior's eyes popped open. There was a scraping sound at the window. After a moment it became apparent the window was being forced open from the outside. A lithe figure clad completely in black seemed to ooze through the opening and made it's way over to Laini's bed. The intruder hadn't noticed the other two panthers. Their dark fur and clothing had allowed them to melt into the shadows. Very carefully, Panthro reached down and put his hand over Bahati's mouth. He gave the boy one quick, firm shake. Bahati woke instantly, his eyes growing wide at the sight before him. Panthro turned his son's face to his and put a finger over his lips. Bahati nodded. Releasing the boy, Panthro sat still while Bahati sat up and got out of his way. The ThunderCat engineer began to creep slowly and silently towards Laini's attacker.

Siberia and Cheetara looked up as Snarf entered the kitchen. He looked a bit surprised to see the both of them.  
"Cheetara, Siberia, what are you two doing up, snarf snarf?" He asked.  
"We couldn't sleep, Snarf. What are you doing up?" Cheetara asked. The ex-nursemaid pulled up a chair and sat with them.  
"Snarfer went back to the Planet of the Snarves to visit some relatives. I decided to call and make sure he got there all right." Snarf yawned widely and helped himself to a cookie.  
"So how is the investigation going? Are you guys any closer to finding out who tried to kill Laini?" he asked. In unison, both females heaved a sigh.  
"No," Siberia groaned. "I still can't help thinking it was one of those false ThunderCats. Lusan and Cabcoh, the lynx and the puma, seemed to hate her the most, but they had absolutely no clue. Pyaber was just kind of there."  
"The most evidence points to Pardus, but he was cleared by the Eye of Thundera. Sarken was the only one of those ThunderCats who was even remotely fond of Laini," Cheetara added. Siberia giggled.  
"It was pretty funny to see her smacking Pardus around, though," the tigress admitted. "'I hate you, Pardus, you killed Laini,'" she mimicked the snow leopard in a high, mocking falsetto. Cheetara joined her in a chuckle. Snarf smiled with them, but the expression quickly faded into a puzzled look.  
"Brrrr, but Laini wasn't dead. Was this before you interviewed her?" Snarf asked.  
"Yes, we interviewed Sarken last," Cheetara answered. The puzzled look on Snarf's face deepened.  
"So . . . who told her Laini was dead? I mean, the guards weren't allowed to say anything . . . right?" He asked. Siberia stared at him. Cheetara stared at him. The two females slowly lifted their eyes and met each other's gaze. Suddenly all the tumblers went 'click'. Of course Sarken would know the comings and goings of the Lair; along with the security arrangements. After all, her mate, Pardus, was one of the guards. They hadn't bothered to ask what Sarken's special ThunderCat skills were, but Siberia was suddenly willing to bet it had something to do with ballistics. Laini's lab was trashed not because her attacker had slapped her around but because the petite ThunderCat was struggling with someone not much bigger than herself. The half and half scent in the lab hadn't quite matched someone with a close lover . . . but it did match a woman wearing her mate's coat. A coat that she had later jammed behind the house, where she knew it would be found. She had framed her own mate to take the fall for her crime! After all, who would suspect sweet Sarken? She was the only one who actually liked Laini. Cheetara finally found her voice.  
"Oh shit!"

The figure in black, a woman Panthro could now see, regarded Laini for a moment, then pulled the pillow out from underneath the panthress's head and pressed it firmly down over her face.

Lion-O suddenly sat up in bed. The Sword! He suddenly knew he had to get the Sword of Omens! Throwing off his covers, the young lord leapt out of bed and raced towards the Sword Chamber.

Panthro tackled the woman trying to smother Laini.  
"Quick, Bahati, get the lights!" He bellowed. The cub scrambled towards the light switch. Panthro wrapped his arms around the woman tightly, pinned her own arms to her sides. Just as the lights came on, the Panther Clan warrior felt a searing pain in his side. Damn it, she was armed! Panthro flung her away from him and quickly inspected the shallow knife wound in his abdomen. It wasn't too bad. Because of his distraction, it was Bahati who made the discovery.  
"SARKEN?!" He cried in disbelief. The snow leopard crouched, knife held in an attack position. Her blue eyes darted from Laini to Panthro and back again. She seemed to realize there was no way she could take the ThunderCat engineer with just a knife. She reached behind her and drew out a nasty-looking firearm. It fit in her hand like a laser-pistol, but it had a homemade look to it and a thick tube attached to the end of the barrel. Some sort of silencer, perhaps? Panthro grabbed the discarded pillow and hurled it at Sarken as she started to level the gun at him. The pillow hit her hand, forcing the gun up. There was a muted popping noise and the pillow erupted in a shower of feathers. Panthro grabbed Laini around the waist and dragged her out of bed, running for the door. He grabbed Bahati by the tunic on the way past and dragged him out into the hallway. Alone, he would have taken his chances and fought Sarken, even if she was armed. But he had to think of his family. Laini was struggling for full consciousness even now, and Bahati, if anything happened to Bahati, Panthro would never forgive himself. Panthro started to run for the control room, dragging his son behind him. But Sarken fast on her feet and she didn't have two people to carry. An errant shot pinged off the wall not far behind them.  
"Damn!" Panthro cried. Then he spotted his salvation. Well, maybe not his salvation; but certainly Bahati's and Laini's. The gray warrior wrenched the tiny door open.  
"Quick, Bahati, get in!" He ordered. Bahati hesitated.  
"The laundry chute?"  
"Yes, the laundry chute! Quick, get in and get ready to catch your mother!" The panther cub did as he was told, disappearing quickly down the chute. Panthro lifted Laini off of his shoulder.  
"Wha? What's going on?" She asked weakly.  
"No time to explain! You've got to --," He was cut off as a bullet tore through his right leg. Panthro screamed in pain and collapsed. Laini fell over the top of him. Sarken approached them slowly, a confident smirk on her face.  
"Well, Laini, you've proved harder to kill than a cockroach. However, I'm going to make sure I finish the job this time," The snow leopard said coldly, leveling the gun at the panthress. "Oh, and I'm afraid you'll have to die, too, Lord Panthro. It's nothing personal, you understand; you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."  
"Sarken?! Why are you doing this?!" Laini demanded, finally starting to catch up on things. Sarken gave her a bland, honest look.  
"Because I hate you, Laini. Do I really need any other reason?" The sound of running feet echoed down the hallway. Sarken cocked the hammer back on the gun. "If you want to stop me from painting the walls with the inside of Laini's head, Lady Cheetara, I suggest you slow to a walk!" The snow leopard yelled. The running stopped abruptly and Cheetara appeared around the corner at a normal pace.  
"I don't know how you expect to get away with this, but rest assured, it won't work," Cheetara growled.  
"Personally, I don't know how you expect to stop me," Sarken countered. "You're fast, but I doubt you're faster than a speeding bullet. Although . . . . let's just see." The leopardess suddenly pointed the gun at Cheetara and fired twice. The speedster became a golden blur as she dodged the bullets in the narrow confine of the hallway. Cheetara lunged for the snow leopard, but Sarken produced another gun from behind her back and trained it on the fallen panthers. The ThunderCat speedster was forced to abort her attack. In the silence after the gunfire, the muted sound of a body hitting the floor seemed to echo through the corridor. Sarken and Cheetara turned to see Siberia sprawling across the floor, two bullet wounds in her chest.  
"Well, that was careless," Sarken declared, looking back to Cheetara. "Next time you start dodging bullets, maybe you should check and see who's behind you. Now, who's going to be next to die?"  
". . .ouch . . ." Siberia growled. For the first time, uncertainty flickered in the snow leopard's eyes. People who have just taken two to the chest and lived tend to scream or moan, not say 'ouch'. With a groan, the golden tigress levered herself to her feet. The holes in her chest spurted blood down the front of her nightdress, spreading a vivid crimson stain across the pink fabric. Laini gasped at the sight. Siberia glared down at herself, then clenched her fists and snarled at Sarken.  
"You bitch! You ruined my nightie!" She roared. Sarken's jaw hung slack. She had come prepared for ThunderCats, but not for someone who treated a bullet to the chest like a broken nail.  
"Do you know how hard it is to get blood out of silk?!" Siberia continued. "And look at the holes! Right where they show! This was brand new, too! Tygra bought it for me last week!" Sarken continued to gape, slowly taking a step back and aiming both guns at Siberia. Cheetara eyed the shaken snow leopardess. She was distracted. More importantly, she wasn't training a weapon on Panthro and Laini. Panthro was starting to look more ashen than usual. Blood from his leg wound had pooled around him. Laini, still severely weak from Sarken's first attack, was staring at Siberia with horror and confusion.  
"I'll—I'll shoot you . . . again," Sarken said, but the threat fell flat. Siberia put her hands on her hips and gave a little grunt of effort. The bullet wounds stopped bleeding. After a moment, bright pink skin closed over the holes.  
"Unless you're packing silver bullets in those things, I wouldn't waste the gunpowder," The tigress announced. Sarken took an uncertain step backwards. Cheetara delivered a powerful sidekick to the snow leopard's temple. She jerked, firing off both pistols, then slumped to the floor, unconscious. One of the bullets whirred past Siberia's ear making a noise like tearing silk. The other nicked the golden tigress's neck, sending a fresh fountain of blood pouring down her neck.  
"Damn it!" Siberia cried, spitting up blood. "Right in the thyroid! Now nothing's going to taste right for a week!" Cheetara ignored the weretigress's cry. After quickly removing Sarken's weaponry, she knelt by Laini and Panthro.  
"Panthro! Panthro, are you okay?!" The speedster cried.  
"Feel sleepy . . ." Panthro whispered. He had lost a lot of blood.  
"Siberia! Quick, give me something to bandage his wound with!" Cheetara cried, applying pressure to Panthro's leg wound with her bare hands. There was a tearing noise and Siberia gingerly handed Cheetara Sarken's ripped up shirt then quickly shrank away from the bleeding panther. Cheetara took the cloth and quickly made a makeshift tourniquet. She gave Siberia a disapproving look for her sudden squeamishness.  
"Don't tell me you're picky about getting blood on you now?" The speedster asked in disbelief. Siberia scowled.  
"Cheetara, I'm covered in my own blood and Panthro has an open wound. Do you know what would happen if some of my blood got into his system?"  
"He'd . . . . . catch a disease?" Cheetara asked uncertainly, giving the bandage one last twist.  
"If you want to think of lycanthropy as a disease," Siberia said, still standing against the far wall.  
"Don't make me a damn . . . were-cat," Panthro panted weakly. Before anyone could comment on his request, the sound of running feet reached their ears. Lion-O came around the corner, Sword in hand, and was confronted with the sight of Siberia, covered head to toe in blood, Panthro and Laini languishing in a pool of blood, Cheetara trying to bandage Panthro's wound, and Sarken lying topless and unconscious on the floor.  
"By the Eye, what--," He began.  
"Lion-O, you have to help me carry Panthro to the medical bay!" Cheetara cried. "Siberia can't do it, she might change him into a were-cat!"  
"A were-cat?" Laini echoed weakly, squinting at Siberia. Lion-O sheathed the Sword and lifted Panthro gently onto his shoulder.  
"I can get Laini," Siberia offered, reaching for the small panthress.  
"No!" Laini cried, shrinking away from the golden tigress. Siberia froze, looking uncertainly at the small ThunderCat.  
"But—," She began.  
"I'll get Laini," Cheetara declared, sliding the panthress's good arm over her shoulder. "You run and get Tygra and Pumyra!"  
"Uh—okay!" Siberia took off running, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind her.

It had been three days since Sarken's last attack. The snow leopardess had been imprisoned and was awaiting trial on multiple accounts of attempted murder. Siberia had proved none the worse for wear; she had spent a day and a half in bed, sleeping and eating enough for a family of four. Eventually, she had coughed up the two lead slugs that had lodged in her body and declared herself cured. Panthro underwent immediate medical treatment. The bullet wound in his leg hadn't been nearly as serious as the blood loss it caused. A simple blood transfusion and he was on the road to recovery. Laini had been subjected to a few more bruises and a hell of a scare. Bed rest and lots of painkillers soon put her to rights. While the dark-furred pair was still confined to bed in the medical bay, they were alert and comfortable as the rest of the ThunderCats gathered in the room with them.  
"What's all this?" Panthro asked, eyeing the lot of them. "Don't tell me you all came in to wish me well?"  
"They could have come to wish me well, too, you know," Laini retorted, smiling while she peered over the rims of her spectacles at Panthro. Siberia filed in with Tygra, lurking behind him shyly.  
"Well, we have come to wish you both the best," Lion-O announced, smiling broadly. "But we have another purpose here. We need to recognize someone who did so much to help bring Sarken to justice." The young king grinned at Siberia, who looked at the floor.  
"I don't know how much help I was; I just caught bullets while Cheetara knocked her out," Siberia mumbled.  
"Do not be so modest," Lynx-O said. "Even, ah, 'catching bullets', as you call it, was a great sacrifice. You also headed up the investigation into the false ThunderCats." The other ThunderCats, the kittens, Bahati, and Snarf included, all started to grin widely. Tygra disentangled his fingers from Siberia's and stepped away from her. The weretigress looked distinctly uncomfortable.  
"So we have decided to reward your sacrifice, Siberia," Lion-O announced, drawing the Sword of Omens. The Lord of the ThunderCats leveled the mystic blade at her chest. Siberia's blue eyes went wide.  
"Wait a minute! You just said I helped!" she cried. The Sword's blade glowed blue then a bolt of energy leapt towards Siberia. The golden tigress gasped and shut her eyes against the perceived attack. Nothing happened. Siberia cautiously opened one eye. The other ThunderCats were grinning widely at her. In fact, they seemed to be grinning at her chest. Siberia looked down and gasped. The ThunderCat emblem was emblazoned across her chest.  
"Me? A ThunderCat?" She said, her voice full of wonder. "I don't know what to say." Still beaming, Lion-O stepped forward.  
"Swear that you'll uphold the Code of Thundera: Truth, Justice, Honor, and Loyalty. And that will be a fine thing to say."  
"I swear that I will," Siberia said, bowing before her king.  
"Then rise, ThunderCat Siberia," he told her. She did so, tears of happiness sparkling in her eyes. The others burst out cheering.  
"A new ThunderCat means champagne for everybody, snarf, snarf!" Snarf cried, popping the cork off of a bottle. The cheering intensified. "Except you three," he amended, looking at WilyKit, WilyKat, and Bahati.  
"Aww," the cubs groaned in one voice. Tygra hugged his mate, lifting her off the ground in his exuberance.  
"You were in on this and you didn't tell me!" Siberia said, half joking, half accusing.  
"We were all in on it," Panthro declared from his sick bed. "Everybody came in here while you were in bed yesterday and voted on it. Pass a drink over here, Snarf."  
"Rawr, it was unanimous; we all thought you'd be a great ThunderCat," Bengali announced, handing champagne glasses to Tygra and Siberia.  
"Everybody? Even Laini?" Siberia asked.  
"Yeah, even me," Laini said, taking the glass that was offered to her. "I was bit freaked out when I saw you get pumped full of lead and come back for more, but the guys explained the whole thing to me and I figured: We all have our different strengths and weaknesses; yours are just a little more different than average. And you took three bullets for me. I like anybody who takes bullets for me," she chuckled. A round of laughter trickled through the group.  
"I guess there's only one thing left to say," Lion-O said, grinning mischievously.  
"And what is that?" Lynx-O asked, taking the last glass. Lion-O lifted his glass in a toast.  
"To Siberia, the newest ThunderCat!" He proclaimed.  
"To Siberia!" The others echoed. Before he lowered his glass, the young lord couldn't resist one last proclamation.  
"ThunderCats--!"  
"Hoooooooooooo!!!"


End file.
